Like most basketball players Marcus Smart just wanted to go back into in the game. That’s why, with four minutes left in the Celtics’ contest against the Wizards on Tuesday, Smart ran to the scorer’s table to check in, argued with an assistant coach when he was stopped, waved a towel in disgust and ran to the locker room before the game was over.
https://twitter.com/CelticsNewsNBA/status/824093134703443970
Here’s how Smart described the incident after the game, via ESPN:
“Just coaches and players, they’re real passionate about the game and hate losing and having different opinions about certain things in the game,” Smart told reporters in Washington. “Of course, I wanted to go back in. Just like everybody else to play it out and give it everything they had and leave it on the court. We had different opinions on that.”
And here’s what his coach, Brad Stevens had to say:
“So he just wanted to go back in. And he had played 12 [consecutive] minutes or whatever, so he wasn’t going to go back in,” Stevens told reporters in Washington.
Pressed on why Smart appeared upset, Stevens added, “He wanted to go back in badly.”
It’s pretty clear that Smart behaved inappropriately. Every player wants to be in the game in crunch-time, but that’s the coach’s all to make. And it’s not like Smart is such a star that he gets to exert leverage over his coach.
To his credit, Smart recognized he had gone over the top and issued a sincere-sounding apology on Twitter late Tuesday night.
To my teammates and coaches… pic.twitter.com/6HtN3FWb8Y
— marcus smart (@smart_MS3) January 25, 2017
This note is thoughtful enough to seem genuine but just sloppy enough that you know the PR department didn’t write it. The perfect combination.
Though yelling at coaches is generally not cool, Smart deserves some leniency here. Tuesday’s Wizards-Celtics game was emotional for both sides, with Washington playing up the teams’ rivalry for days before the matchup. And with the Celtics losing in the fourth quarter, Smart just wanted to get in there and play, no matter how his coaches felt about that. In a way, it’s pretty admirable.
[ESPN]
