Marcus Smart attacks assignment on Kevin Love

CLEVELAND — Marcus Smart missed the last game of the regular season and the first seven of the playoffs last spring to a torn oblique muscle, so the Celtics guard had every right to obsess after falling to the floor in the third quarter Tuesday night after taking a shot to the same area.

But he was guarding Kevin Love. That meant getting up, and getting out to resume covering Kevin Love – the latest assignment in Smart’s very prideful determination to guard anyone and everyone.

As evidenced by his pressure on Love late in the game, when the Cavaliers star missed a 3-point attempt that would have tied the game in the Celtics’ 119-113 win over Cleveland, Smart makes that determination shine.

Or maybe stubbornness is the word for it, as evidenced by his emphatic motion to wave off Daniel Theis when the latter came over at one point to help double-team Love.

“He’s so pissed when guys come to double team. You have to let him do what he do. That’s first team all defense right there,” said Kemba Walker. “He was mad, but he took that challenge.

“Oh my goodness. He’s a warrior, man. I’m super happy he’s my teammate. I love being on the floor with him – he just gives me so much energy,” he said. “The things he does are so amazing. For him to guard K-Love the way he did, especially down the stretch. He’s a beast and he wants those challenges.”

And he wants those assignments without help.

“My preparation for the game – I scout it, I’ve played against Kevin Love for a long time now,” said Smart. “I’m such a great defender and believe in myself, so it’s about pride at that point. I call the double team off any chance I get. I can take care of myself.”

That includes getting up off the floor when his sore oblique tells him to stay down.

“The exact same one. It knocked the wind out of me, was scary, because I thought the same thing was about to happen. But the oblique is stronger and can withstand hits like that,” he said. “I had to (get up). At that moment it’s not about me, it’s about the team. We were disadvantaged with me being down. I could deal with myself later. If it was way worse I couldn’t have got up, and that’s what it would have been. But it wasn’t too painful, so I had to get up.

“My whole life I’ve been preparing for this. I’ve always played against bigger guys that’s got two or three feet on me, and every time I excel and succeed. I need to do it now more than ever because we are small.”

Kanter out

If Enes Kanter still needs time to learn about his teammates, then the right knee bruise he suffered on opening night in Philadelphia was a particularly rude interruption.

The Celtics center sat out his fifth straight game Tuesday night against the Cavaliers. But Kanter, who hasn’t played during the team’s four-game winning streak, also needs court time.

“It feels real good actually, they just want me to be real patient,” he said with what is clearly a minority opinion.

Whoa there, said Brad Stevens, indicating that Kanter’s “doubtful” designation has weight.

“Our training staff thinks he’s probably less likely to play than he does, so I’ll listen to the training staff. Then they give us the go-ahead on what we have to do,” said the Celtics coach, who didn’t get that go-ahead, later saying, “he’s just not ready, and he really wants to play, clearly, but our medical staff just feels that he’s not ready to do.”

The Celtics aren’t simply being cautious, said Stevens.

Thus Kanter’s frustration. It didn’t help watching one of his former teams, the Knicks, destroy the Celtics on the offensive glass Friday night. That weakness is the reason he’s here.

“It is of course frustrating, man,” said Kanter. “It’s tough at this point in the season to take this many games off, but they said it’s a long season, take your time, 82 games, playoffs, just be patient and get back 100%.

“That’s my job, go in and bring physicality and rebound. That’s why it’s important for me to come back as early as I can.”

Progress for Brown

Jaylen Brown, who remained in Boston in an attempt to conquer an illness, missed his third straight game. Stevens said that based on the swingman’s progress Tuesday, including a workout with Celtics assistant Kenny Graves, he may join the team for Thursday night’s game in Charlotte.

“Jaylen had a workout today and he felt a lot better,” said Stevens. “He’ll have another workout tomorrow in Boston, and then we’ll see our doctor and they’ll make the decision of whether he’ll join us in Charlotte or not. But at least there’s a shot he’ll join us in Charlotte (Wednesday), and be able to do shootaround Thursday. Then we’ll be able to tell whether he’ll play or not.”

On small side

Regardless of Kanter’s presence and physicality, the Celtics will generally be a small team this season. Rob Williams returned to the lineup against the Cavs after a one-game, hip-related absence, giving Stevens more interior depth against a tough-rebounding Cleveland team. But to hear the Celtics coach tell it, the team is far from an interior solution.

“It’s real,” Stevens said of the damage. “Size generally is an issue for our team, and now we have to figure out how to combat that. We’ve done a good job for the most part because we’ve kept the ball out of the paint on drives, but we weren’t great against the Knicks. Knicks played really well that night, but they’re going to have a physical advantage against us. Tonight we’ll have to do a great job of rebounding against guys like Love and Thompson and Nan – those guys are great rebounders, especially Thompson obviously.

“We’re just going game-to-game,” he said. “It’s not as if we’re finding the exact rotation for the future. We’re just finding what works best in that moment, while still trying to manage the minutes at some level of the four (starters) playing right now, with Jaylen out. It’s a fine line. We have to figure it out better than we have. Until we get healthy it will be more mixing and matching, or game-to-game.”

from Boston Herald https://ift.tt/2raFzYm