MEMPHIS — During a stoppage, Marcus Smart and referee James Williams got into an argument. At one of those, he called a timeout. He turned to David Roddy in between the first and second quarters and demonstrated proper
positioning for him. Despite being absent from the game between the lines due to a fresh injury to his left foo
t, Smart barely took a seat. This was a game that was initially billed as his retaliation against Boston. So did his ability to affect how Memphis faced his old team.
“I believe he spoke for ten minutes straight during the pre-game talk,” Grizzlies forward Santi Aldama stated to CLNS Media. “These are guys he knows.” He’s obviously a guy who watches a lot of movies, but he also played there for nine or ten years, so he knows them better than anyone—possibly even better than they know themselves. He was very insightful, especially when it came to guarding Jayson, who is an excellent player who can back down smaller defenders into the post and then use his tricks. In an attempt to guard them without fouling, I’m really trying. Naturally, it is a luxury to have Marcus, but I believe that our chances of winning this game were increased by his opponent, Boston.
For the first time this season, Aldama started in a spot role as Memphis used aggressive switching to disrupt Boston’s lineup and drag the game, in typical Smart fashion, into the mud. The officials called forty fouls, Jayson Tatum made eight turnovers, and the Celtics only made 31 three-point attempts. Tatum only got one late in the fourth quarter, a crucial pull-up that he almost blew by spotting a cutting Jrue Holiday with nine seconds left to give him a two-point lead in the dunk. Holiday missed his smart impression and dunk attempt, which let Aldama make a three-pointer for the victory in the opposite direction. Kristaps Porziņģis then stopped Ziaire Williams’ put-back attempt to seal a 102-100 victory.
The Grizzlies entered the game without a staggering array of talent that once made up one of the best teams in the west, including Smart, who will miss three to five weeks due to an ankle injury. Also out of the lineup were Steven Adams (knee), Brandon Clarke (achilles), Ja Morant (suspension), Jake LaRavia (eye), Derrick Rose (knee), Xavier Tillman (knee), and Luke Kennard (knee). It was the first time the Celtics had really underestimated the opposition this season, which PorziņĿis acknowledged and Joe Mazzulla interpreted as a lack of self-control. But he did criticize Boston’s performance in the last play.
