The Celtics looked dead in the water in the closing minutes of the third quarter of Game 2 on Tuesday night. Marcus Smart had just turned an open court Raptors layup into a 3-point play by trying to draw an offensive foul on Pascal Siakam away from the play. Nick Nurse had to burn a challenge after the refs fell for Smart’s flop, but the reversal left the Celtics looking up at 12-point deficit with just under 15 minutes to play. Against a defensive juggernaut like Toronto, that’s an imposing mountain to climb. It looked close to insurmountable after Kemba Walker and Marcus Smart had combined to shoot 3-of-19 from the field over the opening three frames. Finally, the loss of Gordon Hayward was coming back to bite them against an elite opponent, as there wasn’t enough secondary shooting to surround Jayson Tatum (postseason career-high 34 points) and Jaylen Brown (16 points) with.
The game and the entire complexion of the Celtics' postseason changed over the next 10 minutes. Boston put together its most impressive stretch of the postseason, a clutch 29-9 run that not only erased a double-digit deficit, but gave themselves a nice lead heading into crunch time.
Smart’s 3-point shooting (5-of-6 in the fourth quarter) will rightfully get most of the headlines, but there was a lot more that went into the stretch that put Boston’s firmly in the driver’s seat for this series. Here's a closer look at the Smart’s historic stretch, what led to those open looks and an underrated tweak Brad Stevens made to turn the game around.
A LINEUP TWEAK
The Raptors haven’t had much momentum all series long, but they found themselves in a bit of a rhythm in the third quarter, posting 30 points in a frame for just the second time all series to build a considerable lead. The Celtics reserves had come out relatively flat in the third quarter, with Brad Wanamaker and Rob Williams earning relatively quick hooks as the Raptors went on a run.
With Semi Ojeleye struggling from 3-point range, Brad Stevens opted for a bit of a shift heading into the fourth quarter. He elected to go with a defense-first look lineup, prioritizing versatility and rim protection with double bigs off the bench in Daniel Theis and Grant Williams.
The duo had played just seven postseason minutes together heading into Game 2, but they had been a secretly effective weapon throughout the regular season. In fact, that Theis/G Williams two-man duo has the lowest defensive rating (97.3 points per 100 possessions) out of any two-man combination of the Celtics roster that has played over 200 minutes (50+ groups).
The unique look gave the Celtics defensive versatility and good rim protection and that opened the door to a resurgence on that end of the floor. During the 29-9 run, the Celtics held the Raptors to 3-of-21 shooting from the floor (14.3 percent) and the defense of this duo was a big reason why. Williams and Theis contested guards well at the rim, communicated well on switches and didn’t allow any easy looks for the Raptors' shot creators. Toronto missed a couple of open 3s during this stretch, but Toronto’s top scorers (Lowry/VanVleet/Siakam) were held to just two points during the run. Once again, Stevens found the right button to push at a critical spot.
“I thought our little group – when Grant Williams was out there, I thought he gave us great minutes, rebounding the ball and guarding his yard on Siakam a few times,” Stevens said. “But then Marcus makes the big shots. Our defense went up to a different level too. They’re a hard team to play against. They keep coming at ya. Down 12 and a couple of those threes go in, that game can change pretty quick.”
16 POINTS IN 3:04
At the start of a recent Celtics training camp, the topic of playoff matchups came up. One front office executive threw out a potential Raptors-Celtics matchup that never came to be last season. However, one morsel from that conversation that remained was Marcus Smart’s shooting. Would top-tier opponents like Toronto be able to cheat off of him to make life tough for Boston’s top scorers? Or would Smart develop into enough of a shooter to make them pay? Heading into this season, it wasn’t clear yet.
Smart’s a guy that any coach wants on the floor during key moments for his defense, but his outside shooting has always made him a bit of a question mark. Even on this team, when everyone is healthy, he is not guaranteed to be on the court in crunch time, since the Celtics don’t go with their best five that much and he’s easily the worst shooting option out of Walker/Hayward/Tatum/Brown.
With Hayward injured, Smart’s been thrown into the fire as a needed secondary scoring option. That conversation from two years ago was going to be tested in this series, especially after Smart went an ugly 2-of-15 from downtown in the first round against the Sixers.
It was not pretty early in this one, as Smart started the game an ugly 1-of-7 from the field and 1-of-5 from 3-point range, seeming to regress after a red hot Game 1 (5-of-9). That changed in a hurry in a fourth quarter as Smart drilled five 3-pointers over just 184 seconds to completely erase Toronto’s eight-point lead. The early struggles had no impact on his conscience to fire away in such a critical moment.
“I’m laughing to myself and to the opponent sometimes just telling them ‘don’t give me a good look, all I need is one,'" Smart said. "And when you’ve got confidence like that on a team where you have so many guys that you’re going to get open shots and a coach, a coaching staff, that does a good job of really allowing everybody to succeed on the floor and in the position that they’re in.”
To his credit, Brad Stevens has empowered Smart throughout his entire career with his jump shot and it’s allowed for moments like this to be possible a few years down the line. Smart has always been a favorite of the front office, but a closer look at the circumstances behind his playoff shooting numbers (29 percent career from 3) shows a guy who is capable on this stage. Last season, (9 percent from 3) he was returning from a torn abdominal muscle midway through the Bucks series. Two years ago (22 percent from 3) he came back from a broken thumb at the end of the first round series against the Bucks. He was never fully healthy in either of those postseasons and the numbers indicated as such.
According to a league source, Danny Ainge always liked to point to Smart’s 39.7 percent shooting from 3-point range in the 2017 postseason as a sign of his ceiling. That was the last time he was fully healthy entering the postseason before this year and he delivered on a big stage as the C’s advanced to the Eastern Conference Finals with a bunch of underdog players — with Smart hitting big shots (including 7 in Game 3 vs. Cleveland). It’s a big reason why the team signed him to what now looks like a bargain four year, $48 million deal in the summer of 2018 that some viewed as an overpay at the time.
Two years later, Smart has come a long way with his 3-point shot (35 percent over the last two seasons) and it showed over three magical minutes of Game 2 Tuesday night. He’s gotten smarter about his shot selection and worked hard on his consistency. The Raptors dared him to shoot and he made them pay.
Kudos also must go to Grant Williams for finding the hot hand in a situation like this for Smart’s final 3 of the night. That’s a smart rookie who doesn’t even think about putting up a corner 3 knowing that Smart is just a pass away.
Another nice skip from Jayson, quick swing from Grant, and MARCUS SMART AGAIN pic.twitter.com/2HWfwanH8j
— Max Carlin (@maxacarlin) September 1, 2020
HEATING UP ?? pic.twitter.com/URBQjOtDkT
— Boston Celtics (@celtics) September 1, 2020
Yet another very nice skip from Jayson (wasted) pic.twitter.com/NJApWOkiIZ
— Max Carlin (@maxacarlin) September 1, 2020
