It certainly has not been the smoothest season for Marcus Smart. The Celtics guard, by his own admission, has not played up to his standard on defense. He’s been hampered by injuries, which included an 11-game absence earlier this year due to a right ankle injury.
But as the playoffs begin, Smart may be returning to form at the perfect time.
Smart declared earlier this week that he’s feeling close to 100 percent physically, which is something he hasn’t been able to say in years. In Saturday’s Game 1 victory over the Hawks, that meant the Celtics got their reigning Defensive Player of the Year’s best in one of their strongest defensive performances of the season.
“It allows me to be able to box out the bigs,” Smart said of being close to full health. “To be able to go get rebounds. To be able to help Al (Horford) and Rob (Williams). To be able to help D-White, Jaylen (Brown) and Jayson (Tatum) on that end. To be able to run the show defensively and get the guys where they’re supposed to be.”
Williams is a defensive X-factor for the Celtics, which he showed in one of his best performances of the year on Saturday. Derrick White has emerged as a strong All-Defensive team this season. But no one is more important to the success of the Celtics’ defense than Smart, as he showed Saturday.
“He was physical,” Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla said. “His pick-up points were great. He has the presence to be the quarterback on the defensive end where it puts us, we’re able to change coverages, change matchups, and when he’s doing that, our defense is special, and it starts with him. I think he brought it both physically and mentally on the defensive end tonight. I thought that was a huge key for us.”
In addition to organizing the Celtics’ defense, Smart was flying around on the defensive end throughout the night. In the first half, he made a great read to break up an alley-oop. As the game winded down, he had his best defensive sequence of the game. Brown threw away a pass – one of the Celtics’ 17 turnovers – that put DeAndre Hunter on a fast break, but Smart hustled back and made a well-timed block. On the ensuing play, he picked off Bogdan Bogdanovic to force a turnover.
“He kind of just does things randomly that seems crazy but work,” White said. “He made two — the transition block, the steal — some big plays for us. And he seems to just be in the right place at the right time his whole career and probably his whole life.”
It was vintage Smart, and a version of him that hasn’t been seen consistently this season. The Celtics will certainly welcome that back as they pursue a championship.
“I guess sometimes you take it for granted,” Tatum said. “But one of the best, if not the best defender that we have in this league. Just extremely special on that side of the ball and he shows it night in and night out.”
In his first game back after cutting his right finger, Brown pushed through discomfort to score a game-high 29 points in Game 1. But it wasn’t without some extra management. Brown said that the cut – which initially required five stitches – reopened during the game.
“I think it’s going to be alright,” Brown said. “They’ll take a look at it (Sunday).”
Brown wore protection on his finger. It didn’t seem to affect his aggressiveness – he set the tone with a steal and score on the first play of the game – or his scoring ability, but he also committed six turnovers.
“It’s a constant adjustment,” Brown said. “Making sure I get a good grip on the ball. I had six turnovers tonight so I’ve definitely gotta clean that up. That’s really it. …
“It’s fine. Especially with the adrenaline of the game, you kind of just get it going. At times throughout the game I had to readjust it and stuff like that. Had a lot of padding on it so it’s a different feel shooting the ball. Just adjusting and adapting to the game, that’s it.”
The Celtics are well aware that one of the Hawks’ biggest strengths is rebounding. Atlanta had 21 offensive rebounds in its play-in victory over the Heat, and Mazzulla was harping on that area all week.
“Rebounding is the key to this series so that’s been a point of emphasis for us in every practice, try to keep those guys off the glass,” Brown said. “They are young, they are athletic and they crash hard and that’s going to continue to be our challenge in this series, keeping those guys off the glass which is tough. They’ve got some great rebounders on their team.”
The Celtics outrebounded the Hawks, 61-52, in Game 1 and gave up 14 offensive rebounds. The Hawks only converted those into 12 second-chance points, but the C’s understand that needs to stay a focus as a collective unit or it could haunt them.
“It’s a point of emphasis,” Tatum said. “They crash the glass, they’re active, they got some long, athletic guys. So it’s something we talk about all the time. Everybody – bigs boxing out so the guards can come in and grab the ball. Find somebody, hit him. And everybody – no leak outs. Everybody has to rebound and you try to limit them to one shot per possession.”