This entire season has been a referendum of sorts on those who for years felt Marcus Smart wasn’t much of a scorer in the NBA.
Will he ever be confused with Steph Curry or James Harden or some other elite-scoring guards in the NBA?
Uh … nope.
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But this season, Smart has shown the kind of growth as a scorer that only adds to the Celtics' bullish beliefs that they can be among the last teams standing when all is said and done following the NBA’s restart which officially begins at the end of this month.
When league play was suspended March 12, Smart was in the best scoring rhythm of his NBA career. He’s averaging a career-high 13.5 points per game this season, and enters the league re-start having scored 10 or more points in 11 straight games — a first for the sixth-year guard.
In that 11-game span in which he filled in for injured starters Kemba Walker or Jaylen Brown, Smart averaged 18.7 points, 5.2 assists and 4.9 rebounds per game.
But more telling than the raw data is the raw impact he has made in big games.
Look no further than Boston’s last game, a 114-111 win at Indiana on March 10 in which Smart had 16 points on 6-for-14 shooting. More important than his scoring numbers, he made clutch plays offensively.
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Smart’s off-balance jumper with less than a minute to play helped restore some semblance of Celtics control after Boston blew a 19-point lead. And it was a pair of Smart free throws with seven seconds to play that gave Boston a 3-point lead and would prove to be the final points scored for the game.
Already a well-established defender, Smart’s improved scoring late in the season will be worth keeping an eye on.
The challenge for Smart offensively is to do so in a more efficient manner. During those 11 starts, Smart shot 38.3 percent from the field and 33.7 percent from 3-point range with only one game in that span in which he shot 50 percent or better from the field.
Still, Smart’s confidence as a scorer is without question on the rise which bodes well for both him and the Celtics long-term.
Because if Smart’s defense remains at an elite level — which is expected — he and the Celtics become a much tougher matchup for teams if they now have to start paying more attention to Smart as a scorer and not just a defensive-minded facilitator.
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