Marcus Smart returns to his tackle sent to Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum

“Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown don’t want to pass the ball.” The exit of the leader on the lack of altruism of his two teammates in November 2021 had caused a stir. It finally paid off.

The Celtics collective took shape a few weeks later, to the point of leading Ime Udoka’s training to the NBA finals, and the dynamic has not slackened since since Boston alone occupies first place in the East.

The spade of Marcus Smart was arrested at the time. The person concerned therefore reconsidered the reasons for this statement, far from being trivial on his part.

“Last season, everyone heard what I said about how teams are watching us and they thought I was going after Jayson and Jaylen. I just let everyone, including them, know that that’s how the teams look at us when they’re scouting. Players and coaches who have beaten us have told me that. As a player and competitor, when you lose you want to know how they did”, he explained. “Each of the opponents was saying, ‘Jaylen and Jayson have to pass the ball. They don’t want to do it. They won’t. Until they learn to pass the ball, this team can’t go far. So I thought, “If that’s how they see us, we have to prove them wrong.”

More trust between players

The method was direct but helped to advance the collective. As a result, a little over a year later, when asked about the main evolution of Jaylen Brown and Jayson TatumMarcus Smart does not miss the opportunity to drive the point home.

“They trust their teammates more”he replied. “They understand that even if they make the pass early in possession, they can still receive the ball afterwards to benefit from a good shot, and that if it’s not for them, it’s someone another who will have a great shot. It makes it easier for them, because they know they will still get a lot of shots. They also know that they attract a lot of attention. They can therefore sometimes serve as decoys and conserve their energy to use it at the right time, especially at the end of the fourth quarter, in the moments that matter (…). They understood it very well. We all know what Jayson can do. But there are going to be nights when Jayson is not as good, others when the teams are going to do a good job of cutting him out of the game. Then it’s up to me, JB and the other guys. You have to take your hat off to JB for his way of taking over. If he was on another team, he would probably also be in the MVP race.

Still exemplary on Sunday, Jayson Tatum could seal these two great seasons with an MVP title. For Marcus Smart, ‘JT’ doesn’t have much more to do to try to dethrone Nikola Jokic

“We have to win” he assured. “If our team wins and he continues to play the way he does, it will be hard not to give it to him. We have the best offense in the league and probably in history. We have the best No. 1 player. He is also the only player in the league in the MVP race who has the most minutes played. He doesn’t miss any matches. He wants to be on the field. There are guys who miss games, for whatever reason. But this guy comes to work every day and he does it consistently. So it’s hard not to give him a reward if we keep winning.”