Your Morning Dump... Where Marcus Smart is more valuable than you think

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.

Start at 2:20 remaining in the fourth quarter, after rookie Jaylen Brown missed a layup with Boston clinging to a two-point lead. Portland’s Al-Farouq Aminu snagged the rebound, got a little screen to accelerate away from Smart, and broke out in transition. Smart — who played nearly 20 second-half minutes — never stopped racing from behind and, with one big left-handed swipe, knocked the ball from Aminu right before he could reach the paint.

A short time later, Al Horford got blocked at the rim and Smart, undeterred by the four white Trail Blazers jerseys clogging the paint, raced in, outleaped everyone for the ball, and went up with a putback layup.

On the ensuing defensive possession, Smart drifted from the weak side to protect the rim when he noticed Damian Lillard accelerating after coming off a pick-and-roll on the opposite side of the floor. After Lillard raced between Brown and Horford, Smart planted his feet outside the charge circle and absorbed a knee to the chest while drawing the offensive foul that essentially sealed Boston’s victory.

ESPN Boston

For people who obsess over points, Marcus Smart accounted for only two in that sequence. For people who care about wins, Marcus played a crucial role sealing the deal.

Arguably, Al Horford’s impact on the offense and Marcus Smart’s improvement are the main reasons why the Celtics, despite being considerably more injury prone, are 4 wins ahead of their pace last year (want to know how much more injury prone the C’s have been this year? Last year’s typical starting five: Bradley, IT, Sully, Crowder and Amir missed 19 games, combined, the entire season–this year Avery Bradley alone has missed 17 games).

Yet, because neither of these players fill out the traditional stats, it seems that, for some fans, the only time they draw any notice is when they miss shots.

Guys, Boston’s starters have missed a combined 43 games over the first 53 games of the season. And yet the team is doing significantly better than they were last year. So much of that comes down to a handful of plays in each game where a guy like Marcus Smart does something that your ‘average’ NBA player wouldn’t do. One extra chase-down steal when other players might not contest, one play where Smart forces a bad shot or draws a foul. Boston’s net margin this year is 2.4 points per game. On average, just over one extra made basket per game. The little things matter, even if they’re never going to come up with a tracking system for all of them.

Page 2: Where Jae Crowder had a message for the rest of the team

When the Celtics entered the locker room following their game against the Trail Blazers on Thursday night, there was a message glowing on their group text message string from one teammate who wished he had been there with them.

“Good win, fellas,” Jae Crowder wrote.

Boston Globe

Yeah, Thursday night’s win was particularly satisfying. Here the Celtics were, down 17, their spark plug missing shot after shot, everybody probably feeling a little crappy because of the jet leg and the loss the night before to the Kings, and the sudden departure of Jae Crowder and the ongoing absence of Avery Bradley. That was not an easy win. Not at all, not even against the relatively hapless Blazers. Even Brad was impressed:

“That’s a heck of a win considering we didn’t have Avery and Jae out there,” Stevens said. “That was a really good, hard-nosed, tough win.”

You know it’s a big win when Stevens uses more than one adjective to describe it.

Page 3: Where Paul Pierce, Celtics GM?

“Paul was a fun player to be with and work together with in building a team in Boston. He was always up in my office giving me ideas, and he loves that part of the game,” Ainge said on 98.5 The Sports Hub’s “Toucher and Rich.” “Paul would be a great coach, Paul would be great at assisting me or taking over for me some day — who knows what Paul would want to do?

“But it’s a grind, and usually players right at the end of their careers, they want to spend more time with their family and do all the things they’ve never been able to do in the middle of the basketball season because it’s such a long season. But Paul would be good at anything — maybe he wants to work in the media — and I don’t know what Paul’s going to do.

NESN

There are certain franchises that could take a lesson from the way the Celtics treat their alumni.

And their franchise players.