For all his faults, Marcus Smart plays with heart. That’s cool. Sometimes that heart leads to him taking too many threes, or to assaulting a fan who merely wanted to say racist things to him. These things come with the Marcus Smart. Non-negotiable. You get the guy who can defend Anthony Davis passably (not shown, remember, DownToBuck doesn’t care about defense), but also the guy who tried to distract people from his pockmarked face by turning his hair into Cheetos.
Smart had a great game tonight, only to be overshadowed once again by the 4th-quarter scoring heroics of Isaiah Thomas. Maybe not by Boston fans; they seem to appreciate more than anyone the playing style of Smart, even as other fanbases (and I) mock him for his horrid shot selection and meager PG skills.
He made his shots tonight, and he made some nice passes as well. The passes are possibly sustainable; the threes certainly aren’t. But the intensity that led him to harass Anthony Davis will remain forever.