Steph, who is probably the greatest shooter in the history of the NBA has been limited to just 29 per cent shooting this season when guarded by Smart.
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The Boston Celtics made it to the NBA Finals and they did it by beating the best teams from the Eastern Conference. In the first round of the playoffs, they swept aside the Brooklyn Nets 4-0. They then faced Giannis Antetokounmpo’s Milwaukee Bucks and defeated them in a 7 game thriller. In the Eastern Conference Finals, the Celtics, powered by the effervescent Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown and Marcus Smart dispatched the Miami Heat with ease, even though the series went to the wire.
The Celtics have been defensive powerhouses this season and a lot of that credit goes to head coach Ime Udoka. Udoka has brought in a kind of steel that hasn’t been seen in the NBA this season and Marcus Smart is at the centre of it. The upcoming NBA Finals will pit Stephen Curry against Marcus Smart and this season, going by the numbers, Smart has the upper hand on Curry. Steph, who is probably the greatest shooter in the history of the NBA has been limited to just 29 per cent shooting this season when guarded by Smart.
Jay Williams was speaking on 101 ESPN when he stressed how good the Celtics have been this year and how going by their defensive metric are probably the Warriors’ greatest rival in the NBA Finals. He said, “I have been saying this over the last five days. The Golden State Warriors and Stephen Curry, this is his greatest challenge individually against the defensive player of the year at the same position. And historically, this is the best team they’ve ever met, defensively metric wise in the NBA Finals. So you have five switchable guys that all communicate and even with their continuity, there is defensive accountability that the Boston Celtics bring to the table.”
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He then went on to stress the importance of Marcus Smart to this team and praised him for enduring all the injuries and still being able to put top numbers, both defensively and offensively. “Look, Marcus Smart is hobbled up. He has had an ankle injury, a quad injury, a foot injury all on the same leg”, Williams said. “Pretty much in the last series against the Heat, he was playing on one leg. So, that is a question coming into this, the health of Marcus Smart. But if there is a guy individually that you think is the kryptonite to Stephen Curry, you couldn’t ask for a better matchup than the Boston Celtics (Marcus Smart).
