Boston Celtics: Marcus Smart named to All-NBA Defensive First Team

Boston Celtics guard Marcus Smart stepped into a starting role off the bench and showed out enough in 2019-20 to be named to the All-NBA Defensive First Team.

Marcus Smart is the starter that is never supposed to be for the Boston Celtics. While originally a starter for a rebuilding squad in 2015, he shifted over to a reserve role for the years to come, but he has broken through the Boston Celtics rotation twice to become a starter in 2018-19 and 2019-20 for different reasons.

Both years, he has been named to the All-NBA Defensive First Team. Shams Charania announced Tuesday night the five-man squad honored as the top defenders in the league:

Smart joins Rudy Gobert and Giannis Antetokounmpo as consecutive honorees for the NBA’s annual Defensive award. Unlike those two, Smart has a chance of reaching the NBA Finals. Antetokounmpo’s have an uphill climb to win four straight games to advance to the conference finals–and he is injured with an ankle that he can aggravate further. Gobert’s Utah Jazz gave up a 3-1 series lead to lose to the Denver Nuggets in the Western Conference quarterfinals.

The Cs have a crucial Game 6 tomorrow night against the Toronto Raptors, and given Smart’s recent domination of Kyle Lowry in Game 5 defensively, it figures to provide extra motivation to defend his reputation.

Let’s hope this ignites a fire in Smart and the Cs close the door on this series on Wednesday night to avoid a Game 7.