I am totally fine with people focusing on the 1 and a half minutes of absolute virtuoso performance by Smart.
I prefer to focus on the 46 minutes of him being beaten around like David Caradine #checkouthowhedied
Thankfully, he only played 34. And David Caradine always came through. Good nickname for Marcus though -- Grasshopper.
Well.....Grasshopper couldn't even find his own kid after a fire, and the kid (despite being trained) couldn't find his father and Smart can't find a shot or offense, which is pretty fundamental to the NBA, so I think it's a great nickname. Cue the flashback.
eja, you are really straining here to justify your dislike for smart. it really doesnt make you look good. let it go and enjoy the win please.
TP. I have no idea why people are complaining about an amazing win against one of the best teams in the NBA. I think it says more about those people and their worldview than anything basketball related.
Well, I think that this game can be seen as a microcosm of the 16-game win streak: The wins make it easy to brush aside the team's flaws, which are plenty.
Stevens said it best: The streak masked a lot of problems. In the same way, tonight's win can easily mask some serious shortcomings.
And as someone who has often been a Negative Nancy with this team, I can assure you that the eternal optimists can be just as irritating, especially when they take a posture of "no negativity allowed."
But I'm always very happy whenever the team proves me wrong, and tonight's win was amazing; Smart came up super clutch in the last two minutes, as did Horford and Tatum with their 2-point makes. I was pretty stoked watching Harden get whistled!!!
Life is tough for many. Sports are often a refuge for those that are looking for light hearted fun at the end of a tough day of work. I see no reason that one should hold a pessimistic view of entertainment. How often do you buy a ticket to a movie that you think will stink? Do you spend $300 to get 2 tickets to a Celtics game and expect the team to get crushed, while thinking that there are many better ways that you could have spent that money?
I can see how eternal optimism can be annoying, but for me, I don't think it even closely approximates the annoyance of blind pessimism, esp after a fun night of watching my favorite basketball team pull off an improbable win.
Like I said, the ending to tonight's game was a blast. I was so pumped after each of those charging calls!
And I understand the idea that sports are a refuge for many, but speaking only for myself, I guess it's hard for me to see my favorite team getting abused (as they were in the first half tonight), or lose to an inferior opponent (as they've done several times lately), and just shrug it off. Maybe I
should be able to do that, but it's hard for me, I guess because I get so emotionally invested.
I've worked hard, though, to be more positive, so I'm definitely jazzed that the Cs pulled out the win. But I also understand why certain folks are frustrated with Smart, even after a win. I agree with the optimists that he makes a lot of "winning plays," but I also agree with the pessimists that it would be great to see him "show up" before crunch time more often.
All of that said, all's well that ends well (for tonight, at least)!