- ABC News
- January 6, 2018
BOSTON -- Marcus Smart's reputation suggests a player who's a defensive bulldog but an offensive liability. There are many who see only his woeful career shooting numbers and dismiss him as a player capable of impacting the game on only one end of the floor. And while Smart's on/off splits revealed a negative differential in offensive rating the past two seasons, a new trend has emerged this season: The Boston Celtics are, maybe surprisingly, a better offensive team when Smart is on the floor. Smart didn't just put up a team-high 18 points on 8-of-13 shooting on Friday night, he gave a lifeless Celtics team an unexpected offensive jolt when it had previously been colder than the single-digit temperatures outside TD Garden. Combined with Kyrie Irving flirting with a triple-double (16 points, 9 rebounds, 8 assists) and 14 points from fellow bench-mobber Terry Rozier, Smart and the Celtics rallied for a 91-84 triumph over the visiting Minnesota...