It’s been an incredibly tough season for the Boston Celtics thus far amid a 20-20 start but Boston’s challenges have gone beyond the inconsistent play on the floor according to Marcus Smart.
The veteran guard made multiple references at the team’s shootaround Friday before a matchup with the Orlando Magic about the challenges that some players are having in their individual personal lives are impacting the team on the court this year at times.
“I understand we’ve had a lot of guys out, myself included, but we also had a lot of guys that was here, that is capable of playing and going out there and doing great things to help this team win,” Smart said. “So yeah those things affect the team, but for us, we got to refocus our energy.
“You know a lot of things have happened in our lives, personally, individually, where it’s hard to come in here and give that energy to somebody else when in your own individual personal life, energy has been drained or you don’t really have it. We got to find a way to pick each other when that energy is down from that standpoint, because it shows.”
The Celtics looked like they were beginning to turn the corner on that front ahead of the All-Star Break with four straight wins. However, Boston returned from a week-long layoff with three losses in their last four games including an incredibly lethargic performance in a loss against the Cavaliers on Wednesday night to drop them back to .500. That has left Boston on the verge of falling out of the playoff picture in the Eastern Conference.
Smart knows the pressure is on amid high expectations the team faced before the season began but he remains confident that this group can turn things around in the final 32 games of the season.
“Our window is definitely closing,” he admitted. “But if anybody can do it, this group of guys, myself included, we can. We just got to figure it out, and I think we will. I don’t know when, but we are under a lot of fire as a team. But, you know, we’ve been dealing with it.
“This isn’t our first time, first season we’ve ever been under fire, in the postseason, then making a change. So we just gotta click. We just got to find something to click. It might take a game, it might take two, but we got to figure it out. Once we do, I think we’ll be okay. And right now, like I said we got to continue to just help each other bring that energy, especially when one guy’s lacking it.”
Bringing in some outside help before the trade deadline on March 25 is also a way the Celtics could try to add some more energy or consistency to this group. However, Smart is unsure how much that would help since the team’s top players have had such little time on the floor together all year.
“Our core group of guys haven’t even played over 30 minutes together, I don’t think,” Smart said. “So it’s kind of hard to judge when you haven’t seen the full team healthy and haven’t seen what the full team got. Obviously, if you can upgrade in any way, it definitely would help. But as of right now, we don’t know because we haven’t really been able to see what we can do when we have all hands on deck.”
For now, Smart believes the focus has to remain within and trying to get the team’s internal energy where it needs to be to get the group back on track.
“I think a lot of people including fans, media, and just everybody forget that we’re humans,” Smart said. “We’ve got a lot going on other than basketball, and then we have to come here, clear our minds from our individual life, and come give that energy to a group of guys here, and play. So it’s a lot. It’s a lot. So for us, we do start slow, and just try to get that energy. Like I said, we’ve got to be able to help one another. We’ve got to find a way. Right now, we’re kind of blind, but we’re searching for that light. We’ve got to keep searching. We can’t give up.”
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March 20, 2021 at 12:26AM
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Marcus Smart believes Celtics’ ‘personal’ burdens have impacted the team’s energy in games: ‘Everybody forget - MassLive.com
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