The Sixers played their best game of the series on Wednesday night. They were on the verge of earning a Game 6 in Philadelphia with a gutty performance and it looked like they were going to get it after Dario Saric (game-high 27 points) used his 6-inch size advantage to lay the ball in over Marcus Smart in the post with 1:37 remaining in the game to put the Sixers up four.
“Just don’t go back to Philly. That’s all we were saying,” Smart explained of the team’s attitude when facing the late deficit. ‘We can’t go back to Philly. We’ve gotta end it now.’
The Celtics would need to play perfect basketball the rest of the way to pull off the comeback in such a tight timeframe. They did just that over the final 97 seconds of the contest, outscoring Philadelphia by a 9-3 margin to take home a 114-112 win and seal a trip to the Eastern Conference Finals against the Cavs.
The man at the center of that perfection on both ends of the floor? None other than Smart.
The point guard stuffed the stat sheet in the game-changing stretch, literally doing a little bit of everything as he posted three points, a rebound, assist and game-clinching steal in those pivotal moments.
Smart’s value was fittingly shown in every facet of the game in what should serve as a pivotal reminder to Danny Ainge and the Celtics' front office as tough decisions loom ahead amid a payroll crunch. The restricted free-agent-to-be strengthened his case to be kept by Boston while playing on the biggest stage.
Per usual, Smart’s overall stat line won’t have anyone doing cartwheels. He was 3-of-8 from the field and scored 14 points while also posting six assists, six rebounds and three steals. He missed five free throws (8-of-13) and amusingly made one when he tried to miss it with just two seconds left in regulation as the Celtics were nursing a one-point lead. Still, Smart was a team-best plus-10 on the night in the plus/minus department and his versatility was on full display with the game on the line.
SMART THE REBOUNDER
1:06 remaining. Sixers lead 109-107
The Celtics ran the hell out of a simple play all series long against the Sixers, using a pick from Al Horford to free Jayson Tatum on the left wing. The rookie got the pass from Smart and beat Ben Simmons off the dribble to get a wide open lane to the basket. He was all set to tie the game and somehow missed the bunny. The sequence would have been disastrous except for a trailing Smart. He beat out J.J. Redick for position and followed Tatum to the rim while bigger Sixers defenders like Joel Embiid and Saric froze next to the rim.
“I had JJ Redick on me so the whole game it was a matchup that we tried to exploit,” Smart said. “Any time I could get to the basket and get inside position, I just tried. We ran a play for Jayson, time running down. I knew it was going to be hard for him to box me out and try to keep me in front of him so I just did what I did. And I got the ball.”
SMART THE POST DEFENDER
109-109, Sixers ball, 45 seconds remaining
By keeping Marcus Morris and his 1-of-10 shooting benched during crunch time, Stevens was playing with fire to a degree by going to smallball against a far bigger Sixers lineup. Horford had to guard Embiid. Brown was given Simmons. That left Smart on Saric, a player who had just scored on him in the post easily 40 seconds earlier. Tatum was the bigger player, but he had been bullied by Saric down low all series long. The assignment was given to Smart, who talked Stevens out of sending a double team his way.
“He wanted to bring a double team and I just told him: ‘Just let me guard him,’ Smart said. “Because the previous play where he ducked me in, where he got the layup, which I thought he was in the lane for more than three seconds. Brad knows when it comes down in the clutch like that, and it’s somebody versus me to guard, I’m probably going to win that battle nine times out of 10. Brad trusts me.”
That trust paid off as Saric tried to muscle his way down low and Smart held his ground before flopping. The resistance caused Saric to lose control of the ball as Smart hit the deck, freeing Horford for the crucial steal.
SMART THE PASSER
109-109, Celtics ball, 30 seconds remaining
Common wisdom would have been for Stevens to call a timeout in a tie game with the 30 seconds remaining, but the head coach did not want to let the Sixers get organized. Instead, he called for a simple pick-and-roll between Terry Rozier and Horford on the right wing against the Sixers two most vulnerable defenders (Redick and Embiid). Horford slipped the pick and popped at the 3-point line, which got Philadelphia scrambling after they initially tried to double Rozier. The quick swing pass forced Saric to rotate to Horford, who made a quick pass to Smart.
At this point, Tatum made a savvy cut to the rim with his defender (Simmons) occupied by Smart. T.J. McConnell saw the cut developing but Smart beat him before he could cut off the pass. With no one in the paint other than the 6-foot-2 guard, Tatum finished with an easy layup thanks to Smart’s precision to put the Celtics up two.
“I thought he settled us down with his post-ups and with his play around the rim, and he made some great passes,” Stevens said of Smart. “He’s made for this. Like, he’s made for these moments, and that’s the thing that we just keep talking about. Like, we can go through a stat line all you want, but, when it’s – when your seasons are on the line and when you’re in the playoffs and when you’ve got to do really hard things, he can do really hard things.”
SMART THE PERIMETER STOPPER
Celtics lead 111-109, Sixers ball, 22 seconds remaining
After the Sixers used their final timeout of the game, the inbounds play appeared to involve getting the ball to Redick. The shooting guard sprinted from the right wing to the ball in hopes of getting the inbounds from Simmons. However, Smart did not let that happen. He blanketed the sharpshooter to the point that Simmons had to inbound the ball to Covington, who immediately went to Joel Embiid in the post. With Aron Baynes waiting there to match up against him, that was an ideal scenario for Boston in that situation. Taking Redick out of the play ensured that a potential go-ahead 3-point shot would not be in the cards and Smart deserves credit for that denial that will fly under the radar.
All of these plays, individually, won’t get the same acclaim as his game-ending steal (which he traveled on) but each of them was arguably just as important to the C’s hard-fought win, something his teammates recognized.
VIDEO: Marcus Smart in one video. pic.twitter.com/VxCJuDDP01
— 3030 (@jose3030) May 10, 2018