Celtics guard Marcus Smart put his imprint on Game 5 of the Eastern Conference finals just seconds into the contest.
It was a tone-setting performance from Smart, who stripped Miami Heat forward Bam Adebayo on the very first possession of the game and dove on the floor to corral the loose ball as Smart continuously energized the Celtics in a resounding 110-97 victory at TD Garden on Thursday night.
“Obviously, I think it started in that first quarter. First play on defense, Smart diving on the floor, getting out in transition,” Jayson Tatum told reporters, as seen on NBC Sports Boston postgame coverage. “That was contagious. Smart played his (expletive) off tonight.”
That wasn’t the end of it from Smart. He finished with 23 points on 7-for-12 shooting to go along with three rebounds, two assists and an eye-popping five steals. Smart knocked down two of his four 3-pointers in the first quarter as the Celtics got off to a lightning-quick start with a 20-5 run.
And the double-digit lead held up thanks to the superior defensive effort of Smart. In the second quarter, Smart had another defining moment when he cleanly stripped Kyle Lowry and took off the other way, which led to another bucket with Al Horford finishing a put-back dunk off Smart’s missed layup.
Along with Tatum, Jaylen Brown praised how Smart took it to another level to lead the charge of a supporting cast that gave the Celtics a vital lift.
“A lot of big guys stepped up. Grant Williams has been playing really well, Derrick White on both sides of the ball and Smart was just a beast tonight,” Brown told reporters, as seen on NBC Sports Boston postgame coverage. “I don’t know what game y’all guys was watching, but Marcus on both sides of the ball was incredible tonight. It was a great performance from him.”
Smart certainly accomplished what he set out to do. He wasn’t going to wait around and let the Heat dictate the game as Smart desperately wanted to set the tone.
“Bad. I wanted to get us going,” Smart told reporters, as seen on NBC Sports Boston postgame coverage. “I just wanted to come in and give my team some energy early, especially playing against a team like Miami. You don’t want them to come in and get that energy early without fighting back. This series has been that for us. They’ve come in each game and they kind of knocked us around a little bit early. For us, we did the knocking around tonight.”
That was thanks to Smart, who also didn’t let up. He hit all three of his shots in the third quarter, leaving no questions about his impact on the must-win game with the Celtics taking another step toward making history.
“It’s a long series and you’re going to need big games from different guys at different points of a series. That’s why it’s a team sport,” Tatum said. “You need everybody at some point to come up big. Smart, D-White is the reason we won tonight. Those two guys, their ability to hit shots tonight, spread out the defense and then making plays on the defensive end. I think we fed off that energy.”
