addByline("Taylor C. Snow", "Celtics.com", "taylorcsnow");
When Isaiah Thomas was ruled out for the remainder of the postseason with a hip injury Saturday afternoon, many pundits saw it as an opportunity for the Cleveland Cavaliers to sweep the Boston Celtics out of the Playoffs with ease.
C’s guard Marcus Smart, on the other hand, saw it as his opportunity to shine.
Smart took Thomas’ place as Boston’s starting point guard Sunday night during Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Finals, and he stepped in reeking of confidence.
“Coming in I just kept telling myself, ‘You have nothing to lose,’ ” Smart later reflected. “ ‘Just go out there and play. You've been working hard throughout this whole year on your game. Just let it flow and let it show.’ ”
So, that’s exactly what he did.
The 23-year-old filled Thomas’ scoring void by logging a career-high 27 points, while also tallying seven assists, five rebounds and just two turnovers during Boston’s 111-108 win at Quicken Loans Arena.
Smart’s most surprising contribution came from behind the 3-point line where he tied a career high with seven makes on 10 attempts. He’s often been inconsistent beyond the arc, as indicated by his 28.3 percent clip from long range during the regular season, but C’s coach Brad Stevens was not surprised by Smart’s ability to step up from deep during a high-pressure game.
“We can talk about his shooting all year long, but you know when it's in a big moment, that kid is going to rise to the occasion. He just always has,” Stevens said after the game. “That's one of the reasons why if he goes through a funk at some time in March, shoot yourself out of it, we believe in you. Let it fly, because in this moment, when we needed him the most, he made huge shots. He was terrific tonight.”
Smart, who is often driven by his emotions, said there were a number of motivational factors leading into Game 3 that lit a fire in his belly.
The first one he referenced was the 44-point loss that the Celtics suffered Friday night at TD Garden.
“We get our heads smashed in, and you look up into those rafters and see those fans that have been with you all year and their heads down,” recalled Smart. “It was embarrassing. You wanted to do it for those guys.”
Then, there was the message from Boston’s fallen leader.
“IT sent out a text (Saturday) letting us know he's not going to be with us anymore, and that was devastating,” said Smart. “He's a big key to this team, not just to this team as a player, but as a human being. He's a great person and everybody gets along with IT. We lost our brother who couldn't be in this battle with us. We understand it. We thank him for it. But he just kept talking to us (saying) ‘We can still do it.’ ”
The final thing that set Smart off was the amount of people who didn’t think Boston had a chance to win in Cleveland. The Cavs entered the game as 16.5-point favorites, but Smart loves playing the underdog role, and he loves playing the spoiler role even more.
“Everybody else counted us out,” he said after halting the Cavs' NBA record-tying 13-game playoff winning streak. “We kept believing in ourselves. We came in tonight into hostile territory and did our job.”
Smart couldn’t have picked a better night to have a career game, as he breathed life back into the Celtics by helping them overcome a 21-point second half deficit and cut their series deficit to 2-1.
“A lot of people counted us out without Isaiah, but Smart took this opportunity to come out and be aggressive on both ends of the floor and make plays for our team,” said starting backcourt mate Avery Bradley, who tallied 20 points of his own. “He was able to do that tonight, and we need Smart to play that way all the time. He's a very good player. We know he's capable of having big games for us on the offensive end, and I think it's definitely going to give him confidence for the rest of the series.”
The shorthanded Celtics will rely on Smart’s confidence throughout the remainder of this series. As long as he continues to “let it flow and let it show,” no one should be counting Boston out.