BOSTON — Marcus Smart widely is considered one of the most tenacious defenders in all of the NBA, but that wasn’t reflected in this season’s All-Defensive team vote.
The NBA revealed its two All-Defensive teams Wednesday, and Smart missed out on the honor by quite a margin. The Celtics guard only received five first-team votes and racked up a mere 18 voting points in total.
Luckily for Smart, he can take solace in the fact that his team still is competing for an NBA championship. But after Boston’s win over Cleveland Cavaliers in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference finals on Wednesday, the 24-year-old snuck in a jab at the All-Defensive team voters.
“…And that’s coming from a not top-five defender in the league,” Smart said as he exited the Celtics locker room. “Just putting that out there.”
While Smart wasn’t honored for his defensive efforts, the same can’t be said for Al Horford, who was named to the All-Defensive second team.
