{"id":889610,"date":"2019-03-23T06:00:35","date_gmt":"2019-03-23T11:00:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/?p=889610"},"modified":"2019-03-23T23:20:18","modified_gmt":"2019-03-24T04:20:18","slug":"your-morning-dump-where-marcus-smart-is-not-backing-down-hes-doubling-down-r1a1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/news\/your-morning-dump-where-marcus-smart-is-not-backing-down-hes-doubling-down-r1a1\/","title":{"rendered":"Your Morning Dump\u2026 Where Marcus Smart is not backing down, he\u2019s doubling down"},"content":{"rendered":"

Every morning, we compile the links of the day and dump them here\u2026 highlighting the big story line. Because there\u2019s nothing quite as satisfying as a good morning dump.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

Sitting on the sidelines at the Charlotte Hornets practice floor, still dripping with sweat from a fun-yet-intense one-on-one battle with Jaylen Brown, Smart was more defiant than apologetic during his first chance to tell his side of the $50,000 dollar shove of Joel Embiid.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s hard as a defender in this league, to play defense, unfortunately,\u201d he began, his jovial post-practice mood shifting to serious as he recounted Tuesday night\u2019s events. \u201cYou can\u2019t touch anybody, and when you do it\u2019s a call on you.\u201d…<\/span><\/p>\n

Smart sees the shove as achieving two things. First, sending a message to Embiid that the officials would not; that that level of physicality comes with consequences. Second, self preservation.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cit\u2019s hard because now you send a message to a guy pretty much telling him you can\u2019t protect yourself, you know, you\u2019re supposed to just take that and allow it,\u201d Smart said. “Unfortunately, I\u2019m sorry, I just wasn\u2019t raised that way. I always gotta protect myself at all times.\u201d<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

MassLive: <\/b>Boston Celtics guard Marcus Smart on ejection for shoving Joel Embiid: \u2019I\u2019m going to protect myself\u2019<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n

You didn\u2019t expect someone as scrappy as Smart to back down, did you? Hell no, he\u2019s <\/span>doubling<\/span><\/i> down.<\/span><\/p>\n

As Brad Stevens and many others have said, the personality traits that make Smart the intense competitor are the same characteristics that sometimes get him in trouble. Smart plays on the edge, and occasionally falls off that edge.<\/span><\/p>\n

Most fans don\u2019t want Marcus to back off that edge, but the problem is his incidents have now piled up too high. From hitting Matt Bonner in the crotch, to confrontations with the likes of John Wall and J.R. Smith, to the Embiid shove, his reputation as a volatile individual is now set in stone.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cYou know I\u2019m probably held on a different scale than anybody else,\u201d Smart said. \u201cI seen a couple nights before Russell Westbrook do the exact same thing and he got hit with a flagrant one. I got ejected, so it\u2019s definitely, just, different type of people, individuals, held to different type of platforms, and higher pedestals than others, which is understandable. And unfortunately I\u2019m on that lower totem pole.\u201d<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Smart is absolutely correct about that. Here\u2019s the play he referenced, which sure does look the same as the Embiid push.<\/span><\/p>\n

[youtube https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=L0GShp_D6gw&w=560&h=315]<\/span><\/p>\n

But while Smart says he\u2019s being singled out, the NBA\u2019s position is that he\u2019s doing it to himself. The league pointed to that in announcing his latest fine:<\/span><\/p>\n

Smart\u2019s fine was also based on his repeated acts of unsportsmanlike conduct during NBA games, including two prior incidents this season which have resulted in fines.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

Smart\u2019s personality and game would\u2019ve made him a great fit for the beat-the-hell-out-of-each-other NBA in the 1980s. Unfortunately, this is 2019, where every incident is scrutinized frame by frame online and at league HQ. No one gets away with anything now.<\/span><\/p>\n

Furthermore, his comments such as this probably won\u2019t help his cause with referees or league disciplinarians:<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ll do it over again,” he said. “I\u2019m going to protect myself at all times, especially if I don\u2019t feel like I\u2019m being protected out there like everybody else is. If you don\u2019t want to clean it up, I\u2019ll clean it up myself.\u201d<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

As Red Auerbach famously said, he wanted instigators, not retaliators. Marcus needs to find a way to always be the former, never the latter, because every time he lets himself retaliate, he gets in hot water and hurts the team.<\/span><\/p>\n

Maybe he\u2019s starting to get there. Pushing Embiid was a better choice than smashing a picture frame.<\/span><\/p>\n

Related — <\/span><\/i>Globe: <\/b>Marcus Smart feels unprotected on the court<\/b><\/a> \u00a0| Herald: <\/b>Celtics notebook: Smart still not backing down, but he knows he has to be smarter<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n

On Page 2: Who\u2019s in, who\u2019s out<\/h3>\n

In:<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

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Free agent center Greg Monroe has agreed to a 10-day contract with the Boston Celtics, league sources tell @TheAthleticNBA<\/a> @Stadium<\/a>.<\/p>\n

— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) March 23, 2019<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n