BOSTON — Marcus Smart’s perimeter shooting, though better than years past, still can be a bit of an adventure.
But late Friday night against the Atlanta Hawks, his shot looked plenty nice.
With the Boston Celtics up by one with less than a minute to play in regulation, Smart, who was near the Hawks bench, drained a 3-pointer to put the C’s up 108-104, with Boston ultimately winning 109-106.
Right after knocking down the shot, Smart whipped around to the Hawks bench and delivered a quick jab to them.
👌SMART 👌 pic.twitter.com/PyUbydys6R
— Boston Celtics (@celtics) January 4, 2020
Following the game, Smart broke down the shot and revealed what he said.
“I was just trying to get a quick one,” Smart said, “and of course they had been going at me the whole game and I knew they would, and the initial play wasn’t there. I just made a read and they left me open, and I took the shot. To the bench, I just told them to just keep leaving me open.”
It was a busy night for Smart, who finished with 15 points, nine assists and six rebounds, while also getting into a skirmish with Trae Young and Alex Len late in the game.
For all of his efforts, he received a pretty high compliment from Enes Kanter, as well.