WALTHAM, Mass. — Jimmy Butler might be barking up the wrong tree with this one.
After the Bulls’ Game 4 loss to the Boston Celtics in Chicago, Butler directed an interesting dig at Marcus Smart, with whom he’d had a heated exchange in the second quarter. In short, Butler called out Smart for “acting tough” but not actually being “about that life.”
The problem: Smart is one of the toughest and most confrontational players in the league, sometimes to the detriment of his own team. The Celtics guard admitted Tuesday he’d seen Butler’s comments, and they gave him quite a chuckle.
“I laughed at that,” Smart said after a brief practice at the team’s facility. “This is about the Celtics versus the Chicago Bulls, not Marcus Smart versus Jimmy. I ain’t got to sit here and say this and that. I ain’t that type of guy.
“My actions speak louder than words. It ain’t hard to find me.”
But let’s get down to the matter at hand: Is Marcus Smart about that life?
“You heard (Butler),” Smart said. “He said, ‘I don’t think Marcus Smart is about that life. Last time I checked, if you’re going to say somebody isn’t about that life, you should know, right?”
Point taken. Smart later was asked if he’d ever been accused of not being tough, to which he responded simply, “Never.” And what was his initial reaction to Butler’s words?
“Haha.”
Smart and the Celtics got the last laugh in Game 4 to even the first-round NBA playoff series at two games apiece, but he expects the chippy play to continue when the teams meet Wednesday night in Game 5 at TD Garden.
“That’s what I expect,” Smart said. “That’s what everybody expects. That’s what it is: It’s playoff basketball.”
Thumbnail photo via Mike DiNovo/USA TODAY Sports Images
