Marcus Smart vs. Pistons - new NBA Defensive Box Score reveals value
Marcus Smart returned to the hardwood last night in a 110/98 victory over the Detroit Pistons. His offensive game was a good one, playing 25 minutes and scoring 12 points on 5/9 from the field and 2/6 from three-point-land. He added three rebounds and six assists, coming away with a plus/minus of +15, tied with Marcus Morris for a team-high in that category.
Only two weeks ago, the NBA came up with several advanced statistics, one of which (Box Scores: Defensive) appears to be tailor-made for players like Marcus Smart. For Marcus' defensive performance against Detroit, they are very impressive. I will break them down for our readers. For the sake of clarity, I will not be exact, but the numbers will be very close:
1.) Marcus played roughly half-the-game, during which Detroit scored only 39% of their total points. They scored the remaining 61% when he was out.
2.) His match-ups (MU's) only scored nine points on 4/10 on field goals and 1/7 on threes. Smart was not contesting the successful attempts. See #4 below.
3.) His MU's shot no free throws. He committed no fouls against his match-ups.
The #Celtics were ahead by just 4 points with 2:47 left in the 3Q. They then went on a 22-6 run over the next 9:32 – forcing Detroit to miss 8 straight shots at one point – to put them up by 20. Guess who was on the floor for that entire stretch? pic.twitter.com/TRdmhyE4bB
— Taylor Snow (@taylorcsnow) February 24, 2018
4.) His MU's attempted no field goals, including threes, while he was contesting. That is an astounding statistic. No opponents want Marcus defending them.
5.) Without going into detail, numbers 3, 4 & 5 above account for nine defensive categories, all of which were zeros. That is amazing.
Celtics net rating with Marcus Smart on the court tonight: +30.1. That includes a team-best defensive rating of 84.4.
— Chris Forsberg (@ESPNForsberg) February 24, 2018
In the movie, She Wore a Yellow Ribbon, John Wayne's character chides one of his troops, "Never apologize. It's a sign of weakness". Well, agree or not with Wayne's statement, but Marcus did apologize for the picture-punching incident, and he is anything but weak, both mentally and physically. According to DraftExpress' Jonathan Givony, Smart bench pressed 185-pounds for 19 reps at the Draft Combine. Pair that physical power with a laser-like mental focus on defense, and you have a tough time replacing anyone like that. We hope we never have to do that. Welcome back, Marcus. We need you!
Follow Tom at @TomLaneHC
Photo via Mark D. Smith/USA TODAY Sports
Video via gotgauze