<![CDATA[Every morning, we compile the links of the day and dump them here… highlighting the big story line. Because there’s nothing quite as satisfying as a good morning dump.
February was the most efficient offensive month of Marcus Smart's career: 13.6 PPG on 45.2% shooting. 36.5% FG is his career average.
— Brian Robb (@BrianTRobb) March 2, 2017
At my age, few things get a rise out of me early in the morning. But the discovery of this tweet as I scrolled through Twitter for Dump-worthy content equaled a shot of caffeine, B-12, ginseng, 5-hour energy and Cialis.
Marcus has garnered a lot of recent attention for his overall grit-and-balls play and the simple fact the Celtics are a better team with him on the floor.
But if his offense continues to grow from this point… OMG!!
Now, what you don’t see in that tweet is the 28% 3 FG. But we can’t have it all, can we? That would be like whining to your significant other after they cooked up a tasty filet because the potatoes were soggy.
One final thing about Marcus… the hair is gone!
On Page 2, relishing the return of Avery Bradley.
He is a role model with his work ethic but has been working alone the past few weeks because of his Achilles’ tendon injury. Bradley understands his role on this team. He relishes defending. He has worked feverishly on his perimeter jumper. Before he was injured, he was the Celtics’ leading rebounder.
Thomas is the central figure of the offense, and Bradley becomes another player he has to incorporate. The Celtics don’t want to be too Thomas-centric offensively, so he was able to give scoring opportunities to Jae Crowder as well as Bradley in the fourth quarter against Cleveland. Thomas scored only 6 of the team’s 29 points in the final period.
“It’s important for all of our guys to step up,” Bradley said. “Jaylen’s gotten an opportunity and played very well on both ends of the floor. Isaiah trusts those guys and we’re a team and [Thomas] is getting better at how to make plays for our team, seeing that defenses are focusing on him and trapping him, he’s learning. He’s making the right play 100 percent of the time.
I’m in the camp that wanted the Celtics to add Andrew Bogut or some other front-court presence who would help with rim protection and rebounding and I’m kinda annoyed they didn’t make a move.
But now that the moment has passed, I’m going to celebrate the return of Avery Bradley.
Most importantly, he’s going to ease the offensive pressure on Isaiah Thomas. Secondly, he’s going to help rebound.
And third… I can’t stop watching this:
Missed you AB. 🍀#Celtics pic.twitter.com/UbooaKRlwH
— KWAPT (@KWAPT) March 2, 2017
The rest of the links
Herald – Taking pressure off IT key on west coast swing | ESPN – Bradley offers reminder how important his defense is]]>
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