It was only one week ago when Brad Stevens was referring to Marcus Smart’s meditation skills as a joke when trying to diffuse the aftermath of the Jaylen Brown and Marcus Morris bench scuffle in Miami.
“I looked at Smart breaking it up, and talk about growth, holy smokes,” Stevens said with a smile. “I thought he’d be in the middle of one of those. That was pretty good. You guys all looked at it as a negative, I couldn’t believe what I was seeing.”
Just one week later, we saw exactly why Smart’s role as a peacemaker came as such a surprise to the head coach. The fifth-year guard blew his fuse in the third quarter of Saturday’s win over the Hawks, charging DeAndre Bembry after earning his second technical foul of the night.
Wonder what was said here because this escalated quickly from Marcus Smart and DeAndre' Bembry talking, to double techs, to Smart making a run for Bembry and getting ejected. pic.twitter.com/SSW2FQgpqw
— Mike Vorkunov (@MikeVorkunov) January 20, 2019
Bembry on Smart: “That’s what he does. You obviously see him doing that plenty of times. It happens. I just tried to keep my cool. I’m trying to win the game.”
Also said Smart lost his cool after the referee told him he was ejected.
— Brad Rowland (@BTRowland) January 20, 2019
JR Smith and Marcus Smart was about to throw hands? NBA is back! pic.twitter.com/4TBLbkv1tR
— NBA Inside Stuff (@NBAInside_Stuff) October 7, 2018