Death, taxes and Marcus Smart making winning plays on the defensive end for the Boston Celtics.
The Celtics guard did just that Friday night, and it helped Boston take a 3-0 series lead over the Philadelphia 76ers with a 102-94 Game 3 victory.
Smart officially finished with three steals in the game, but those watching and playing alongside understand he was much more impactful on that end of the floor. Smart, for one, even thought his performance proves he should be considered for the Defensive Player of the Year.
He wasn’t even named a finalist weeks earlier.
“That’s just what I do,” Smart told reporters, as seen on NBC Sports Boston’s postgame coverage. “That’s me just being me — the best defensive player in this league that I know I am, that my teammates know I am and that my opponents know. So, when I come into this game I need to be that every single night.”
It seemed to have made Kemba Walker want to follow suit. The first-year Celtic had arguably his best defensive game in a Boston uniform Friday. Walker, though, was left talking more about what Smart provided.
“I’m glad he’s on my team, I’ll tell you that much,” Walker said, per NBC Sports Boston. “He’s so special. Defensively, he’s just a monster. He’s willing to take on any challenge. He’s willing to take on whatever it takes to win a basketball game. … That man can literally guard anyone in the world. And I can’t see how he’s not in the Defensive Player of the Year conversation. Like, I just can’t see it.”
With Smart and Walker leading the way defensively, the Celtics held the 76ers to just 29.5 percent shooting from the field. It’s a season low for a Celtics opponent, per Boston Sports Journal’s Brian Robb.
Here are some other notes from Friday’s game:
— Walker was equally impressive on the offensive end of the court. And while it was a game-sealing pull-up jumper that proved to be his most important play of the night, Walker’s takeover in the third quarter also was key.
The All-Star point guard scored 10 of his team-high 24 points in the third, hitting four of eight shots from the field in the period. He also took a charge and stripped Philadelphia’s Al Horford in the paint.
“Kemba was what he’s always been,” Jayson Tatum said postgame, per NBC Sports Boston. “He was the leader tonight. He carried us. He was special. That’s what we’re going to need, especially certain nights when guys aren’t playing well, he’s obviously more than capable of carrying us to the win. That’s what he did tonight. And we needed it.”
— Joel Embiid once again finds himself facing a 3-0 series deficit to the Celtics. The 76ers big man, though, is now only worried about one thing.
“I don’t want to be swept,” Embiid told reporters postgame, per The Boston Globe’s Nicole Yang. “I don’t want that on my resume. Like I said, I’ve been playing my butt off. I’m going to come in and do everything I can to make sure we win a game.”
— Jaylen Brown doesn’t expect the Celtics to be complacent entering Game 4, despite holding the 3-0 lead.
“Just come out and play basketball. We understand every game is important. Playoffs is different than the regular season,” Brown said, per NBC Sports Boston. “We still got to come out and play, no matter what the time is, Sunday’s an early game (1:30 p.m. ET), we still have to come out and play.”
