Marcus Smart came back Sunday to the place where he spent the first nine years of his NBA career, and there was little doubt that the capacity crowd at TD Garden was happy to see him.
Smart, injured and unable to play in the Memphis Grizzlies’ one visit to Boston this season, received a video tribute and a long ovation midway through the first period. Beginning with footage of commissioner Adam Silver announcing Smart’s selection with the sixth pick in the 2014 Draft, it included a litany of the sprawling, loose-ball plays that became a trademark for the Oklahoma State product.
“It’s a true dogfight. Scratching, clawing, biting, blood, everything,” the video quoted Smart as saying following last season’s Game 5 playoff loss to Philadelphia. “And if you’re not willing to bleed, if you’re not willing to break something, if you’re not willing to tear something, going hard, then you shouldn’t be on that court.”
The Celtics won the next two games, advancing to the fifth Eastern Conference finals of Smart’s time with the team.
The @Celtics tribute video for Marcus Smart 👏 pic.twitter.com/7gCTCCIi8j
— NBA TV (@NBATV) February 4, 2024
Smart, who turns 30 next month, took in the video from in front of the Memphis bench, and was clearly emotional as he waved to the crowd. His former teammates cheered it as well, with Jayson Tatum among those exhorting the fans to get louder.
Late in the fourth quarter, the game well in Celtics control, the crowd chanted, “Thank you, Marcus.”
Smart was dealt to Memphis as part of the three-team trade in June that landed Kristaps Porzingis from Washington. Smart has played in only 20 of the Grizzlies’ 50 games, and has been out since Jan. 9 with a finger injury. Earlier, he missed nearly six weeks with a foot sprain.