BOSTON — Boston Celtics guard Marcus Smart is difficult to
miss. His jump shot can be an amusement-park ride. He will try the occasional
alley-oop pass from midcourt. He spoke this month about the apparent brutality
of a playoff game as a “true dogfight — scratching and clawing, biting, blood,
everything.” He dyes his hair green.
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It is all part of the colorful package, and, Thursday night,
Smart showcased his role as a defense-minded agent of chaos on the opening
possession of Game 5 of the Eastern Conference finals against the Miami Heat.
Smart was defending Jimmy Butler away from the ball, near
the top of the perimeter, when Bam Adebayo of the Heat drove to the basket.
Smart reached at the ball, stripped it free and dived to collect it near the
foul line before shoveling it ahead to Jayson Tatum for a fast-break layup and
the game’s first points.
One play does not define anything, of course, especially in
a postseason series. But that play — a clean steal before the Heat could even
take a shot — seemed to hint at everything that was to come during the Celtics’
110-97 victory, which extended their season. The Heat lead the series 3-2. Game
6 is Saturday in Miami.
The Celtics, the No. 2 seed in the East, forced 16 turnovers
in Game 5. They threw a full-court press at the Heat coming out of timeouts.
They led by as many as 24 points. By the fourth quarter, Heat coach Erik
Spoelstra was pacing in front of the visiting bench with his hands on his hips,
and Butler, who finished with just 14 points against a host of defenders,
looked weary.
“I wanted to get us going,” said Smart, who checked out of
the game to an ovation after scoring 23 points. “I wanted to come in and give
my team some energy, especially going against a team like Miami.”
He added: “We did the knocking around tonight.”
The pressure is squarely on the Heat before Game 6. They
would certainly welcome the return of starting point guard Gabe Vincent, who
missed Game 5 with a sprained ankle. But in case anyone thinks they are
reeling, Butler offered a New York Jets Joe Namath-esque guarantee at his
postgame news conference.
“We can and we will win this series,” he said. “We’ll just
have to close it out at home.”
Not so long ago, the Heat had all the momentum. In fact,
early in the third quarter of Game 4 on Tuesday, they seemed to be closing in
on a four-game series sweep. There was one possession in that game when three
offensive rebounds led to a three-pointer by Max Strus, pushing Miami’s lead to
nine points in front of a home crowd that was primed to celebrate a trip to the
NBA Finals.
The Celtics could have crumbled like a sandcastle into
Biscayne Bay. But a funny thing happened: They promptly went on an 18-0 run. No
longer was the Heat’s zone defense such a riddle. No longer were the Celtics’
three-point shots rimming in and out. And no longer did the outcome of the
series appear to be a foregone conclusion after the Celtics’ 116-99 victory, which
sent it back to Boston.
Several Celtics mentioned the importance of a team meeting
between games 3 and 4, which happened at a time when nearly everyone outside
their locker room figured their season was toast. Coach Joe Mazzulla was
fielding questions about whether he had lost his team. Tatum and Jaylen Brown
were being scrutinized for their inconsistent play. Broadcasters were cracking
jokes about imminent trips to Cancun, Mexico.
“I mean, Game 3, that was as low as you can be,” Tatum said.
“The good part about being that low is that you only can play better. It’s only
up from there.”
After Thursday’s win, Mazzulla said one of his assistants
had provided valuable perspective.
“The seasons are, like, nine months long, and we just had a
bad week,” Mazzulla said. “Sometimes, you have a bad week at work. We obviously
didn’t pick the best time to have a bad week, but we did, and we’re sticking
together and fighting like hell to keep it alive, and the guys are really
coming together.”
The Celtics are making a habit of digging holes — they
trailed the Philadelphia 76ers 3-2 in their conference semifinal series —
before MacGyvering their way out. Smart acknowledged that the Celtics may have
been too lax in how they had approached their series with the eighth-seeded
Heat.
“They snuck up on us and got us,” said Smart, who was asked
to elaborate. “That’s the thing about sneaking up on somebody: They’re not
supposed to know you’re coming. So, that’s what happened. We didn’t know. We
didn’t see it, and they got us. It wasn’t like we were trying to have that
mindset. It’s part of the game. It’s part of life. It’s part of the roller
coaster of playing in the NBA.”
Now, the Celtics are halfway toward snapping one of
professional sports’ most curious and seemingly shatterproof streaks. No NBA
team has ever come back from a 3-0 series deficit. Earlier this week, the Los
Angeles Lakers became the 150th team to have tried (briefly) and failed
(miserably) when the Denver Nuggets swept them in the Western Conference
finals.
As for the Celtics, Smart pumped the brakes on looking
beyond Game 6.
“First of all, we have to worry about one — the next game,
not two games,” he said.
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