Boston Celtics: 1 stud and 1 dud from C’s tough loss to Milwaukee

Boston Celtics stud: Marcus Smart

Throughout the C’s triumphant second-half surge, we at HH have constantly been referring to Marcus Smart as arguably the most underrated contributor on the ball club, for, simply put, he’s been consistently playing lights out since the calendar page flipped to January.

That said, while the guard has, indeed, been playing at such a high level, Thursday night may have been one of his best performances throughout this stretch, as he was an absolute revelation for Boston.

As the days have gone by on the 2021-22 campaign, the 28-year-old has been showing his abilities to serve as a legitimate starting floor general on a championship-aspiring squad, and his performance against the Bucks just further proved this narrative.

Logging just over 30 minutes on the night, Smart went on to finish with a stellar stat-line of 29 points (tied for the highest mark in the contest), seven assists, and two steals on an incredibly efficient 62.5 percent shooting from the floor and 58.3 percent shooting from deep, converting on a game-high seven 3-pointers.

Not only did we see the eighth-year veteran further his case for being the long-term starting floor general for this team, but he also went on to strengthen the claim that he is deserving of this season’s Defensive Player of the Year award, as he continued to put forth that pesky effort on the less glamourous side of the ball that’s made him a household name in Boston, and even matched up against Giannis Antetokounmpo on quite a number of switches where, on one occasion that, for some reason isn’t in the box score (those who watched the game, you know what I’m talking about), he had a clutch block on the superstar big.

Marcus Smart has proven to be an absolute gem for this Celtics team, and this game against the Bucks was just another example of his excellence this year.