The blizzard actually got Marcus Smart's dreadful three-point shooting season back on track?


A little over a week ago, I posed the following question: Could a blizzard fix the worst three-point shooting season ever?  Eight days later, it appears the answer is "yes."

At the time, Marcus Smart had connected on a horrific 19.5 percent (17-for-87) of his shots this year from beyond the arc.  Smart was on track to post the lowest three-point percentage ever for a player with at least 3.8 attempts per game.

But then something unusual happened--Winter Storm Jonas dumped multiple feet of snow across the northeast, and the Celtics matchup with the 76ers in Philadelphia was pushed back from Saturday to Sunday.  With an unexpected day off, Smart spent the time working on his jumper.

Coincidence or not, the effort paid off immediately.  Smart canned 3-of-6 triples in the C's blowout victory over the Sixers.  In Washington the following night, the second-year guard drained 2-of-5 long-range attempts.

During yesterday's loss in Orlando, Smart tied his career high with 26 points while shooting 5-for-9 on three-pointers, including a 30-foot buzzer beater (at the end of the first quarter) and an off-balance four-point play in the final minute as he fought to keep Boston in the game:





Since his extra day of blizzard-induced practice, Smart is 13-for-27 (48.1 percent) from deep over the Celtics' last five contests.  The hot week has raised his season percentage from 19.5 to 26.3.  Smart still has a ways to go to make that number look respectable, but it's clearly trending in the right direction--and at least he's now on a better pace than Kobe Bryant.




Follow Mark Vandeusen on Twitter @LucidSportsFan
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