Boston Celtics Emotions Boil Over vs Washington Wizards

Emotions boiled over for the Boston Celtics during their loss to the Washington Wizards.

The Boston Celtics losing streak reached three games after Tuesday’s loss to the Washington Wizards. The losing streak comes on the heels of a three-game winning streak and emotions boiled over in Tuesday’s loss.

It was a wire-to-wire victory for the Wizards, who handled the Celtics with relative ease, winning 123-108. Emotions were running high coming into the game as the teams had a scuffle at the end of their last game.

Celtics forward Jae Crowder and Wizards point guard John Wall had an exchange of words that resulted in Crowder putting his finger in Wall’s face. Wall responded with a push to Crowder and the two had to be separated.

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Tuesday was the first time that the teams met since, and the Wizards got the upper hand. They frustrated the Celtics all night, as they never trailed in the game.

With the Celtics trailing 110-97 with 3:55 left in the game, Marcus Smart was subbed out for Jaylen Brown. A little less than a minute later, Smart walked back to the scorer’s table to check back in, but he was followed by head coach Brad Stevens. A television timeout ensued, to which Smart returned to the bench and sat in the middle of the huddle as if he was going back into the game.

At that point, Celtics’ assistant coaches Jerome Allen and Jamie Young tried to remove him and a heated exchange ensued. Smart was seen waving a towel in their direction as well. He finally gave in and went to the locker room early along with Amir Johnson.

Stevens was asked about the incident after the game and provided some insight.

"“So he just wanted to go back in. And he had played 12 [consecutive] minutes or whatever, so he wasn’t going to go back in,” Stevens told reporters in Washington."

Reporters continued to try and pry answers from Stevens, pressing him about why Smart was visibly upset. Stevens told them that Smart badly wanted to go back into the game.

No player likes to be benched, but Smart had played 17 out of 20 minutes in the second half. With the score the way it was, and the emotions running high from previous incidents, it made sense to remove Smart from the game.

Smart discussed the incident after the game, chalking up the blowup on the bench to frustrations about the Celtics losing and the struggles the team has had defensively.

"“Just coaches and players, they’re real passionate about the game and hate losing and having different opinions about certain things in the game,” Smart told reporters in Washington. “Of course, I wanted to go back in. Just like everybody else to play it out and give it everything they had and leave it on the court. We had different opinions on that.”"

Smart would apologize to his teammates and coaches following the game on his Twitter account.

Smart has been starting in place of the injured Avery Bradley. He finished the game with 13 points on 4-of-13 from the field, adding five rebounds, one assist, and four steals. Wall and his backcourt mate, Bradley Beal, had especially strong nights at Smart’s expense.

The duo combined for 58 points, nine rebounds, 12 assists, five steals and one block. A lot of that production came against Smart, who was a target of plenty of trash talk from the Wizards during the night.

Smart ultimately let the Wizards get under his skin and his emotions got the best of him in the fourth quarter.

"“Everybody on this team hates losing,” Smart said. “Everybody on this team knows I hate losing and how much I hate losing. It’s a lot of frustration.”"

A big reason for the recent team struggles is the poor performance defensively. The Celtics calling card last season was their defense, when they ranked fourth in defensive rating last season. In the past month, the Celtics have been dreadful defensively, ranking 29th in defensive efficiency, allowing 112.1 points per 100 possessions.

It is something that frustrates Smart, and he let it be known following the game.

"“No, we have not. And that’s the problem,” Smart said. “As a team, we have not. Everybody on this team has had moments to where we haven’t lived up to par. Last year, we were the team where guys hated to play against. This year, everybody wants to play us because we’re not doing everything that we used to do in the past on the defensive end.”"

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The Celtics have to figure things out on the defensive end if they want to get back to the success they had last season and earlier this season. Getting Bradley back in the lineup will help that, but until he is able to return they have to figure things out with the players they have available to them.