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The quintessential Marcus Smart play arrived Saturday night when he flipped over an opponent, missed a putback game-winner and still, somehow, gifted the Boston Celtics a chance to seize a last-second victory. After Al Horford snuck in a go-ahead bucket with 1.3 seconds left, then blocked the Detroit Pistons’ desperate attempt at the buzzer, he wanted to make it clear: “The credit is to Marcus.”
“That’s championship plays that he made, winning plays that he made right there,” Horford told reporters in Detroit after Boston’s 94-92 win. “So he just literally crashed the glass hard, and the ball just fell. I just put it back in and that was that.”
MassLive
But none of Horford’s heroics would have been possible without Marcus Smart risking life and limb to simply keep the ball alive on Boston’s final possession. It was Smart who charged full throttle from the 3-point line and leaped into a wall of four white jerseys, tipping the ball just enough to allow Horford to quickly flick it back up and break the game’s final tie.
On his fearless charge, Smart leaped between Ish Smith and Tobias Harris. Caught beneath the rim, Smart tried his best to force up his own putback but didn’t have a good angle. He went crashing to the floor as Smith leaned forward from Smart’s impact. Smart was able to brace his fall slightly with his arms, but the side of his head appeared to hit the floor. Smart needed a moment to collect himself after the play (and Smith immediately checked on him after seeing the hard crash).
ESPN Boston
Marcus Smart is a maniac. For all this flopping theatrics, the kid is a legitimately fearless player whose complete disregard for his own safety (with an assist from Stan Van Gundy… more on that in a minute) helped the Celtics escape with a win.
It’s important to note where Smart started his charge on that play.
Flight 36, cleared for takeoff…
With everyone watching Jae Crowder get a clean look from the corner, Smart starts his run at the rim from a step behind the 3-point line.
Here’s where Stan Van Gundy comes into play
After the Pistons tied the game at 92-all with 23.2 seconds left, Stevens decided against calling timeout. The decision kept Drummond, one of the NBA’s best rebounders, on the bench — and paid off when Smart crashed the glass to create a second-chance game-winner for Horford.
According to the Detroit Free Press’ Vince Ellis, Pistons coach Stan Van Gundy said he took out Drummond with 30 seconds left because Baynes is “really good” at the play the team ran to tie the score. But in a nifty play call from Van Gundy, all Baynes did was set a pick and roll to the hoop while Smith found Tobias Harris for a 3-pointer.
“As it turned out, quite honestly, I’m not sure Aron’s part didn’t really have a lot to do with it,” Van Gundy said. “I’m kicking myself right now. If he’d been in the game, we probably get the rebound and we probably are still playing (in overtime) instead of talking to you (the media). Not that I don’t enjoy talking to you guys, but that could have waited another 45 minutes.”
It’s the little things like that which allow things like this to happen…
Marcus swooped in, timed his jump perfectly, and because he suddenly caused a big overreaction to his play, Al Horford was left alone to clean up the miss and put the C’s up 2. Except Marcus paid a big price…
While Marcus was getting to know what the Palace floor tastes like, Horford flicked in the game-winner. Let’s put it all together…
Game-winning hustle leads to a game-winning basket <img src="https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/72x72/1f44d.png" alt="