Marcus Smart: Has His Defense Regressed?

Marcus Smart: Has His Defense Regressed?

A year ago Marcus Smart won the defensive player of the year award. The Celtics also had the number one defense in the NBA a year ago. Now Boston a year later has lost their head coach, have slipped to 4th in defense, and even Smart’s overall defense has regressed.

The Celtics guard acknowledged as much. After a trip to the Finals a year ago, his defense has slipped and isn’t making excuses for it.

“It’s mediocre,” Smart told reporters before Wednesday night’s game against the Minnesota Timberwolves, according to MassLive’s Souichi Terada. “We all see it. It’s tough. You don’t get the same calls as you probably would. It makes it tough for you as a defender — especially with a league that’s very highly, highly offensively oriented where everything is catered to the offensive player. It’s hard to play defense, and especially coming off a DPOY stint. Everything you do is more critiqued.”

Smart, 29, is averaging a career high 6.5 assists and 32.4 minutes per game so it hasn’t been all bad. There are still those classic Smart moments on a nightly basis. We saw one last night against the Timberwolves.

Vintage Smart. pic.twitter.com/k8bkwOZLFG

— Chris Forsberg (@ChrisForsberg_) March 16, 2023

Marcus Smart Is More Than A Grit Guy

At the end of the day, it’s all about championships at this point for the Celtics. The window is now. Nobody will remember a few defensive lapses in the regular season if we see classic Smart come postseason time. Still, it is worth noting the defense has taken a step back this year. Smart has 1.5 steals through 52 games at a 2.2-steal per 48-minute rate and 0.60 steal-to-turnover ratio. All of those numbers are down from his career averages as noted by NESN.

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