Boston Celtics: Marcus Smart’s Deep Shooting Is Improving

Marcus Smart is shooting 19.1 percent from deep in the month of January, but in his last game against the Philadelphia 76ers on Sunday, his three-point shooting looked stellar.

Marcus Smart has always been known as a defensive-minded guard ever since he came into the league in 2014, and he has never been known to be a good shooter. He plays with a fiery sprit on both ends of the floor, which is why Boston Celtics general manager Danny Ainge drafted him No. 6 overall in the 2014 NBA Draft.

Smart knows that if he wants to make the next leap as a point guard he will need to add consistent three-point shooting to his game. This has been a weakness of Smart ever since he came out of college. In his rookie season, he shot 33.5 percent from deep, which was a lot better than expected. Many people had high hopes for Smart’s three-point shooting to improve even more for this season, but he has struggled from beyond the arc this season.

Smart is shooting 21.5 percent from distance this year, and ever since he came back from his injury that made him miss 18 games he is shooting at 21.4 percent. Smart is never afraid to shoot, he is confident to take even contested shots from distance, especially when the game is on the line.

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When he came back from his injury, he was missing many wide-open threes, and he was missing these shots by a lot. There was a period from Jan. 2 to Jan. 12 where Smart shot 3-for-22 from deep. After that tough stretch, his numbers on paper have not been much better, but you can tell he is starting to gain a little of his confidence back from beyond the arc.

Smart went 2-for-4 from distance in a game against the Dallas Mavericks on Jan. 18, but then in his next two games he went a combined 0-for-7 from deep. Smart’s inconsistency from deep is something that he has to improve on, and the good news is that his three-point shot looked much improved against the Philadelphia 76ers on Sunday.

He went 3-for-6 from deep in that game, and his shooting stroke looked fundamentally sound. He was getting a lot of legs under his shot, which is something that he needed to see coming off a leg injury.

Smart looked liked he started to find his stroke against the 76ers on Sunday, which is great news for him and the rest of the Celtics.

Overall

Smart’s shot looked much better against the 76ers on Sunday, and he will need to keep that up so the Celtics can be more dangerous on the offensive end, especially when the game is on the line.

Coach Brad Stevens likes to play Smart in crunch-time because of his defense, and if he became more of a consistent three-point shooter, then the Celtics would be tough team to beat when the game is close.

Avery Bradley and Jae Crowder have turned into two-way players for the Celtics, and both players have improved their three-point shooting tremendously. Now, it is Smart’s turn to become more of a two-way player.

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Hopefully, there will be more snow days so Smart can practice his three-point shot even more because his shot look much improved against the Sixers. Watch for Smart to take his three-point shooting momentum into the Celtics’ next game against the Washington Wizards.