Boston Celtics guard Marcus Smart was listed as questionable heading into Game 4 against the Atlanta Hawks on Sunday night.
During Boston's 130-122 loss in Atlanta on Friday night, Smart was on the unfortunate end of a collision with teammate Al Horford while attempting to grab a rebound from Hawks center Clint Capela. The play resulted in Smart taking a hard fall on his back, evidently leaving his status for Game 4 doubtful.
But while on the floor alongside Smart, Jayson Tatum was prompted to relay some tough-love motivation to last season's Defensive Player of the Year, which he revealed.
"Get your (expletive) up," Tatum told reporters before tipoff, per CLNS Media video.
Smart, who wasn't particularly impactful offensively in the first two games, flipped the switch in Game 3. The 29-year-old scored 24 points with eight rebounds, three assists and three steals, connecting on five 3-point attempts. That scoring total surpassed any of Smart's 61 games played in the regular season.
Nevertheless, Atlanta's jaw-dropping shooting performance (56% from field goal range) overshadowed Smart's contributions and proved to be too much for the Celtics to navigate. Boston's mistakes, whether it'd be allowing 23 second-chance points or failing to prevent two crunch-time baskets from Trae Young and Dejounte Murray, prevented the C's from earning a win.
"I think now since we're playing a little bit smaller, instead of like the double bigs, we gotta put more of an emphasis on everybody rebounding," Tatum said. "It's not just one person's job. Everybody has to. And live-ball turnovers. In the NBA, those are just tough. Those always lead to transition, and-ones, threes."
