It seems like Celtics fans have turned on Marcus Smart in favor of their new point guard man-crush, Terry Rozier. Maybe because they don’t want to pay Smart a bunch of money this off-season only for him to continue to be an inefficient-scoring, overconfident-shooting defensive specialist. Maybe because Smart punched a framed painting and exploded his hand, then got another hand injury that will keep him out for a while. Maybe because Smart has a pizza face. Whatever the reason, it’s looking more and more like Rozier is the inefficient backup PG of the future for the Celtics.
I won’t deny that Rozier had some great, clutch plays in this game for the Celtics. If the Celtics had won this game (spoiler alert: they did not win this game), the phrase “Terry Rozier won this game for the Celtics” would actually be a true statement that could be uttered without irony or humor. Instead, we’re left with the phrase “Terry Rozier almost won this game for the Celtics,” which doesn’t have the same impact even though it’s Jayson Tatum’s fault that he can’t shoot free throws in pressure situations.