A bittersweet night for Marcus Morris

In a tough double overtime loss to the Washington Wizards, Boston Celtics’ forward Marcus Morris posted his best offensive numbers as a Celtic; dropping 31 points and grabbing nine rebounds in the Wednesday night thriller.

Morris’ entire offensive repertoire was on display; including mid-post fadeaways, step-back jumpers, and the deep ball. He hit four three-pointers, including what appeared to be a dagger from the corner with 44 seconds left in regulation, putting the Celtics up by four.
Unfortunately for the Celtics, Morris’ most notable play came on the defensive end.
Down three with 5.5 seconds left in regulation and no timeouts, the Wizards ran an inbounds play that resulted in forward Otto Porter Jr. having an easy lane to the basket. Morris’ basketball instincts took over, and he stepped in to contest the layup, leaving sharpshooter Jodie Meeks open in the corner.
In a postgame interview with reporters, Marcus took full responsibility for the mental miscue, saying “Me being a veteran, I put that on me,” and “[Meeks] made a great play, but that was my bad.”

Marcus also cited twin brother Markieff Morris's mistake in the Celtics’ February 8th overtime victory against the Wizards. “When we were in Washington, [Markieff] fouled Kyrie [Irving] at the end to send it into overtime,” and later adding “So twins do dumb shit, I guess.”

Celtics head coach Brad Stevens was far less critical of the seventh year forward. In his postgame press conference, (per ESPN's Chris Forsberg), Stevens noted that “Marcus Morris was one of the main reasons we were [in the game], and it happens."

Being as shorthanded as the Celtics were, the competitiveness of Wednesday night’s game was certainly encouraging.

Morris’ production as of late has also been encouraging. After showing up to training camp banged up and not in game-shape, he has progressed nicely throughout the season; scoring in double figures in 20 of his last 23 games.

It may be tough for him to get over, but the Beantown Bully’s terrific Wednesday night performance should not be defined by a single play. The versatile forward shouldered the scoring load for a team with only four other non-rookies available to play, and nearly got the win against a likely playoff team.

Don’t beat yourself up over this one, Mook.

Photo by Brian Babineau/NBAE
Video of Morris’ postgame comments via MassLive
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