Boston Celtics: Marcus Smart needs to play smarter

The Boston Celtics were able to win on Wednesday night, but Marcus Smart almost cost the team a victory. Simply, he needs to play smarter.

So far in 2021, there are a lot of reasons to be excited about the Boston Celtics. Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown have taken the next step and Payton Pritchard might be the steal of the 2020 NBA Draft.

But one issue is Marcus Smart. His decision making is getting very close to costing the team games.

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To Smart’s credit, he is having a decent number statistically. He is averaging 12.1 points and 6.6 assists.

But the problem is Smart’s shot selection. He consistently takes poor shots early in the shot clock. This isn’t just in normal game scenarios either, he also does this in crunch time.

Smart decided to take on the entire Heat defense in Boston’s final possession and of course he missed. If it wasn’t for Pritchard grabbing the rebound and scoring, Boston very well could have ended up losing.

With the emergence of Pritchard, Brad Stevens might need to reconsider Smart’s role. Pritchard needs to be apart of Boston’s 2nd unit even when Kemba Walker returns. That could very well mean cutting Smart’s minutes.

It seems at times Smart thinks he is the No.1 guy. He needs to defer more to Tatum and Brown as well as Pritchard when he is hot. Smart is primarily in the game for his defensive skills and not what he can do with the ball in his hands.

There is no doubt that Smart is amazing on defense. He is arguably the best defender in the NBA and there is no one that he can’t guard.

But when it comes to shooting, Smart makes too many mistakes. If he wants to continue to progress as a player he needs to improve his decision-making. He can’t just be throwing up shots from deep early in the shot clock.

Smart just needs to play smarter. It’s really that simple.