On Monday night, the Boston Celtics did something they’ve done often lately: they lost.
The second-best team in the East was taken down by the Cleveland Cavaliers in yet another tough overtime loss.
Beating the Cavaliers was a tall order for the Celtics because they were on the tail end of back-to-back games and were without Jayson Tatum, Al Horford, and Robert Williams.
The limited output of Marcus Smart didn’t help.
BrickMuse tweeted Smart’s numbers for the night and they were painful.
He scored 11 points on a 23% field goal percentage while going just 3-of-11 from the three-point line.
Marcus Smart tonight:
11 PTS
23 FG% (4-17)
27 3P% (3-11)
3 TO
-817 shots
13 BRICKS 😤🔥🧱🧱🧱 pic.twitter.com/Gu6Mbhmw9Q— BrickMuse (@BrickMuse) March 7, 2023
Smart put up 17 shots and only landed 4 of them throughout the game.
His field goal percentage was painful as was his 27.3% from the three-point line.
All in all, it was not Smart’s best night.
He wasn’t the only starter who was having problems on Monday night.
Derrick White put up 12 points, 3 rebounds, and 2 assists while Mike Muscala only scored 5 and Blake Griffin only scored 4 points and 4 rebounds.
A couple of bench stars came out swinging, such as Sixth Man of the Year candidate Malcolm Brogdon with his 24 points and 5 assists, and Grant Williams, who scored 12 points.
The inconsistency on display Monday night is not common for the Celtics.
Throughout the year, head coach Joe Mazzulla has been able to turn to multiple stars on the roster but that wasn’t the case against the Cavaliers.
Some people are wondering if the team is now in a bad mental space, unsure of themselves after several back-to-back losses.
If that’s the case, they will need to do whatever it takes to get back on track and shake it off.
They are still firmly in the playoff race and they need to believe in themselves in a few weeks when the postseason begins.
NEXT: The Celtics Have Reached A Troubling Milestone
