The Boston Celtics face a tough situation to avoid playoff elimination. They face an 0-2 series deficit to the Miami Heat in the Eastern Conference Finals. A sense of urgency is needed to turn things around before it’s too late.
In Game 2, the Celtics experienced what was their worst loss of their playoff run. They held a double-figure lead over the Heat and not only allowed Miami to get back into the game, but to overtake complete control. As one might expect, that lead to some real frustration for Boston — primarily Marcus Smart.
According to Shams Charania of The Athletic, Smart ‘stormed’ into the Celtics’ locker room and made it clear he wants players on the team to be held accountable. Then, Brown ‘snapped back’ and ‘shouted’ at Smart saying the team needs to stick together.
Sources told The Athletic that Smart stormed into the Celtics postgame locker room saying that other players needed to be held accountable and not simply point the finger toward him when things are going wrong. As Smart continued and his voice grew louder, sources said Brown snapped back and shouted that Celtics players must stay together and that their actions must come as a team, not individually, and that Smart needed to cool off. Those sources added Smart had verbal exchanges with a couple of the assistant coaches during the game.
Smart and Brown had a tense interaction inside the locker room, with objects thrown around. Teammates diffused the situation before any physical altercation could take place, sources told The Athletic.
It’s easy to sympathize with Smart in this situation. He always brings it his all making hustle plays and taking on tough defensive assignments. He’s even provided a vital scoring and perimeter shooting impact as well. Basically, he’s doing all he can and is delivering.
Meanwhile, the top playmakers on the Celtics routinely fail to deliver in clutch situations. The rest of Boston’s personnel has not brought nearly enough to the table and if that doesn’t change soon, Boston could be faced with elimination while the Heat earns a spot in the NBA Finals.
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