Marcus Smart Got Into It With His Coaches, Hit The Showers Early

I am disappointed. Anything short of a bench-clearing brawl would have been disappointing, after the Wizards wore all black (for the Celtics’ “funeral”) ahead of the teams’ third matchup of the year, after the first two features all manner of beef. But last night provided no fireworks, just a dominant, uneventful 123-108 Washington win. At least Marcus Smart and his coaches yelled at each other?

With a few minutes left and things mostly out of reach, Smart, who had started for an injured Avery Bradley, tried to reinsert himself into the game. He walked over to the scorer’s table, pursued by Boston coach Brad Stevens. We’ll never know how that potential confrontation would have gone, because a TV timeout had everyone reconvene at the bench.

There, Smart sat down in the huddle like he was about to enter the game. That led to some animated arguing and gesturing from both the Celtics guard and two assistant coaches.

Smart ultimately left for the locker room, sent off early by Stevens.

“He just wanted to go back in,” Stevens explained. “And he had played 12 [straight] minutes or whatever so he wasn’t going to go back in. He wanted to go back in. He wanted to go back in badly.”

Smart confirmed the argument was over him entering the game, saying, “we had different opinions on that.”

Afterward, Smart tweeted an apology:

This is fine, but I really wanted a fight between the Wizards and Celtics. Maybe it can still happen? Maybe the Celtics didn’t fly out of Washington yet? Wishful thinking. Another crushing disappointment that will teach me not to watch basketball until April.