BOSTON — It seemed like Draymond Green was trying his damnedest to keep the Boston Celtics in Saturday night’s game.
With the C’s trailing the Golden State Warriors 113-111 with 11 seconds left in regulation, Marcus Morris clanked a 3-pointer, which Green corralled. He was intentionally fouled by Al Horford with nine seconds left, sending him to the line with a chance to just about ice the game.
He missed the first attempt, breathing life into the TD Garden crowd at the notion it would remain a one-possession game no matter what happened on the next shot. And on the next go at it, Green missed. His shot rang off the backiron and headed right back toward him. Marcus Smart darted to the center of the paint to box Green out, but as he planted his foot so he could elevate and grab the ball, he slipped. Green grabbed the rebound, kicked it out to Steph Curry, and Curry was intentionally fouled with six seconds left.
Curry drained both his free throws, securing the 115-111 win for the Warriors.
After the game, Smart explained what happened on the play.
“I literally just slipped,” Smart said. “I went in, something we work on day-in, day-out, I do it on a daily basis, and just lost my footing.
“It was me and Kyrie back there,” Smart later added. “We talked about it, Kyrie (Irving) was going to box out whoever it was, and I was going to get in and get the shooter and get the rebound. I don’t know what the hell happened.”
Celtics head coach wasn’t hard on Smart in his postgame comments, noting it simply was an accident.
“Marcus went in to get in front of the shooter, he slipped” Stevens said. “Slips happen. I feel bad for him. He felt bad. That’s part of it, that was just unfortunate.”
While it obviously was a pivotal mistake, the Celtics in the moments leading up to that sequence had some other gaffes that they also expressed displeasure with.
