Marcus Smart wasn’t exactly pleased with Brad Stevens and the Boston Celtics coaching staff Thursday night.
The C’s guard appeared to rip into Stevens after getting pulled during the third quarter of an eventual 108-87 win over the Charlotte Hornets. It all started because of a series of fouls called on Smart on both ends of the floor, and instead of having Smart’s back, as the guard insisted, Stevens just took him out of the game.
So when Smart got to the bench, he let the coaches have it for a second.
After the win, Smart explained why he was miffed with Stevens.
“I just was telling him, especially when everything is going that way, they’re just picking and picking, and it’s like they’re eyeing on me and it’s like they are doing it on purpose,” Smart said, via Mass Live. “So I’m telling them like, ‘At some point, you have to step in and say something as a coach. But since you won’t, I’ve got to.’ I understand from Brad’s standpoint, but at the same time, from the player’s standpoint, like, you’ve got to step in.
“By taking (a player) out, you just allow that to sit up and build up,” Smart later noted. “I’m never like, ‘I need to take a break.’ I want to keep playing and I want to thug it out, even especially when everybody else is doing it, and it’s just like, ‘Hey, you’ve got to let me play.’ Especially, you know, I’ve been in six years, I’ve been doing this for six years, and I know what I’m doing. I can handle it. Just let me play.”
Stevens indicated that he actually loves that fiery part of Smart and that everyone moves on pretty quickly whenever something like that happens.
In other words, it’s clear there are no hard feelings.
