Game 3 of the NBA Finals boiled the Marcus Smart experience down to its purest form. His impact, for better and worse, was singular, with a blend of tough shot-making, furious on- and off-ball defense, reckless jump passes and curious decisions that ultimately helped elevate the Celtics to a 2-1 series lead.
It was in so many ways a quintessential performance from Boston’s longest-tenured player, a ball of deliberate energy whose impact on any given possession transcends analytical quantification. He finished with a quiet albeit critical 24 points (on 17 shots), three threes, seven rebounds and five assists. He was +19 on the court and Boston was -3 when he sat. (The only Celtic with a more favorable plus/minus net differential was Rob Williams III; Boston’s defensive rating in the nine minutes Smart sat was an atrocious 118.2.)
He also had five turnovers. Four of them were live-ball off passes that, if we’re being generous, can be described as “extremely poor”:
But he also took and made some of the biggest shots of the game. One came with 3:11 in the third quarter, moments after Steph Curry scored eight points in about 45 seconds to give Golden State its first lead of the night. Smart caught a pass out of a Jayson Tatum-Rob Williams III pick-and-roll, squared his shoulders and canned a go-ahead three. Boston was starting to unravel before that shot. Sometimes Smart exacerbates their problems trying to dig them out. On Wednesday night “it was just be poised. Just stay calm,” he said after the win. “If I didn't stay as poised and calm … it would have been a snowball effect for us.”
On a play where the Warriors threw two on Tatum to protect Curry on a switch, Smart banked in a three over Gary Payton II early in the fourth quarter, with the shot-clock winding down, to make a two-possession game a three-possession game. A few minutes later, nursing an 11-point lead, Smart exercised the type of patience Boston’s offense is often desperate for. Instead of pulling up in transition, he pumped the brakes and let Tatum isolate in a clear mismatch against Otto Porter Jr. When Curry helped off Smart in the strong-side corner, Tatum kicked it out for the open three.
The Celtics are a lot harder to take down when Smart is a threat to score, but when he’s dialed in everywhere else, dominating the margins and fortifying the best halfcourt defense NBA basketball has seen in quite some time, Boston feels unbeatable. On what may end up being the most important play of the game, Smart took advantage of every Warrior momentarily forgetting he existed by crashing the offensive glass and instigating the six-car pileup that led to Green’s sixth foul and Curry’s foot injury.
It’s fine to quibble with his Defensive Player of the Year win. Smart doesn’t protect the rim and can’t function in the same way some bigs do. But watch the possession below and then name as many players who are as intelligent, quick and versatile enough to do what he does.
To start, Smart picks Curry up at the logo, something he regularly does that well over half the league’s guards simply can’t/won’t. Then he points out a switch on Curry’s pass to Draymond Green and pressures the ball. When Green hits Klay Thompson coming off a screen on the weakside, Smart darts to the nail to contest Thompson’s pull up, forcing a pass back out to Green. From there, he hops back out to cover the ball as every other Celtic takes away Golden State’s movement. When Andrew Wiggins finally gets it from Green with six on the shot clock, Smart makes the switch and burrows inside his jersey, forcing a desperation leaner that misses the rim entirely. These are the plays within the play that are required to beat the Warriors.
As he’s done throughout this series and Boston’s entire playoff run, Smart executed on defense. He switched under screens to prevent free slips to the rim. He fought over screens and barrelled through them when the action called for him to stay attached to the ball. Here he basically teleports around Kevon Looney to take Jordan Poole (who isn’t handling the physicality of this series very well) out of the play. You can see how rushed Poole feels, knowing he has a split-second to release a shot with Smart on his trail.
Back to offense for a moment. All series long, the Warriors haven’t had too much of an issue getting around the wide pin-downs for Tatum that trigger Boston’s offense. Picks like this, though, are a different story.
“It might seem like a part of the game that is overlooked, but setting good screens is so key in a game like this,” Jaylen Brown said. “The little things is what win, and today we had a bunch of great screens and got a bunch of open looks.”
Smart’s imprint on the Celtics has been undeniable since they drafted him. He’s a relentless, never-ending roller-coaster ride. Stubborn, brilliant, frustrating, frequently cited as the reason why they struggle and the fire behind their success. Game 3 contained all of the above. But as has been the case more often than not, year after year, the good outweighed the bad.
