BOSTON — Daniel Theis provided the initial fireworks late Friday night, but Marcus Smart was responsible for the finale.
Following Theis’ potentially game-saving shot block on Trae Young just before the buzzer, Smart corralled the loose ball. Pretty much no time remained, but Smart tripped on the knees of Young, who was laying on the ground.
Young seemed annoyed about it, as did Smart, who then got into it with Alex Len. A brief skirmish ensued, with Smart and Len getting handed technical fouls and Young a personal foul.
Following the game, Smart told his side of things.
“Me and Trae Young got into something, and (Len) came out of nowhere and just grabbed me,” Smart said. “I just told him ‘Don’t grab, watch out, this has nothing to do with you. Just don’t grab me.’ So that was it, I pushed him off me and we walked away.”
Smart also acknowledged that Young probably was displeased with him for stepping over him.
“He probably did (get mad at me),” Smart said. “I got mad at him when he elbowed me in my face too, so there we go. … I was going to go around him, but I was like ‘where to?’ If I go right I’m out of bounds, and I didn’t really see anybody to my left so I didn’t want to go that way. The game is still going, I made a play, I was going forward. He stuck his hand out and tried to trip me, got the foul and then Alex Len (came over).”
Here’s a look at the play.
Did Trae Young foul Marcus Smart here? ? pic.twitter.com/IyHKY7q11O
— FOX Sports: Hawks (@HawksOnFSSE) January 4, 2020
In the end, it really didn’t turn out to be a huge deal, and Young wasn’t about to start launching harpoons through the media.
“I don’t know. I haven’t watched the video,” Young said, via the Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s Sarah Spencer. Everybody in the locker room was telling me different things. I ain’t trying to really get into that. People can watch and see and judge what happened.”
Smart ended up hitting one of the resulting free throws from the personal foul assessed to Young, securing a 109-106 victory for the Celtics.
