Marcus Smart has harsh take on Celtics' effort in loss to Jazz

https://www.yahoo.com/sports/marcus-smart-harsh-celtics-effort-042126291.html



Marcus Smart has harsh take on Celtics' effort in loss to Jazz




Justin Leger
NBC Sports Boston

March 6, 2020, 8:21 PM PST




Marcus Smart has harsh take on Celtics' effort in loss to Jazz



Marcus Smart is holding his Boston Celtics teammates accountable.

The C's fell to the Utah Jazz on Friday night, marking their third loss in the past four games. They made it interesting toward the end, but it was too little too late as they suffered a 99-94 defeat.

After the game, coach Brad Stevens complimented his team's effort. Smart, however, wasn't having it.

"I disagree. I thought [our effort] was s--t," Smart told reporters.

"It's on us. I don't know what's going on out there. It's like we let other team's pressure take us out of the game. When that happens, this is the outcome. We have to fix that. We have to be aggressive. We gotta punch first."


Celtics on NBC Sports Boston

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Marcus Smart talks about the Celtics struggles over the last few days
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https://twitter.com/NBCSCeltics/status/1236143478159142913

8:15 PM - Mar 6, 2020


It didn't help that Boston was shorthanded. Jaylen Brown and Gordon Hayward were out due to injuries, and Kemba Walker (knee) was on a minutes restriction.

Still, it was a less-than-stellar collective effort for a Celtics team that has had its lack of depth exposed over these last few games.

Smart was the lone bright spot with a game-high 29 points. The C's will need far more than that next time out, though, when they take on the Oklahoma City Thunder.



bob
MY NOTE:  I love this man, I swear I do.  Yeah, we were short-handed, but there's no excuse for lack of effort.  If you lose on talent, you lose on talent.  If you lose because they out-execute, you lose because they're better and more in sync, but there's no excuse for not giving 100% of whatever you've got.  The only players I saw giving 100% out there last night were Smart, of course, and Semi. We've seen this at least twice in the last few weeks, where the players are sleepwalking.


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