Boston Celtics: How Marcus Smart can change the series vs Milwaukee

With Marcus Smart’s return from injury, the Boston Celtics have a new reason to be hopeful in their now best-of-3 series vs. the Milwaukee Bucks

As the Boston Celtics hemorrhaged points on Milwaukee’s turf, the television camera panned to Marcus Smart. He was the emotional leader of the elite Celtics’ defense all season, but wasn’t available to revive them.

The camera zoomed in on a splint covering Smart’s right thumb.

As Sir Charles in Charge contributor Brandon Osborne wrote yesterday, the Celtics have struggled on defense this series. They logged a defensive rating of 117.2 in the first four games. Boston had no answer for Giannis Antetokounmpo and Khris Middleton.

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Per Brad Stevens, Smart has been cleared to play for Game 5 in Boston. Prior to this news, the Celtics could only pray that Milwaukee started missing shots, and that Terry Rozier found his groove at home. Rozier averaged 20.3 points in the two games at home on 47 percent shooting. He averaged 9.5 points on 26 percent shooting in Milwaukee.

Smart is uniquely fit to guard Bucks star Khris Middleton. In the first four games, the only Celtic who had a prayer of stopping Middleton was Jaylen Brown. Middleton shot over Rozier with ease on post-ups, and burned Marcus Morris and Jayson Tatum off the dribble on isolation plays.

The Bucks guard found openings through forcing switches and pushing the ball up in transition before Brown could tag him.

Middleton presents a unique challenge on defense. He has the strength of a combo forward, with the first step of a guard. He knows when and where to attack defenders, making him seem even quicker than he is. Middleton has been unconscious from mid-range, shooting 62 percent from field to go along with an unthinkable 63 percent from 3.

The Bucks offense has been out-of-sorts given the continued struggle of Eric Bledsoe and spotty contributions from role players. Middleton’s shot creation has been one of the few constants for them.

Smart proved he is one of the strongest guards in the league when he guarded Paul Millsap down the stretch in the 2016 playoffs. He also possesses elite lateral quickness and defensive footwork.

When Smart and Brown are on the floor together, Middleton will have to deal with two defenders who can slow him down. The Celtics will have an easier time preventing Middleton from finding mismatches on switches and in transition.

Smart’s presence also allows Stevens to play Tatum and Morris at power forward more often. The Celtics got away with playing two traditional big men at home, but the Bucks’ hot shooting at home limited how much Stevens could play Greg Monroe and Aron Baynes.

In Game 3 and 4, Jabari Parker woke up, and Thon Maker got more minutes due to John Henson’s injury. Both punished Baynes and Monroe from outside. Al Horford already had his hands full trying to contain Giannis. An injured knee ended Daniel Theis’ season, so Stevens resorted to playing Semi Ojeleye more minutes in Game 3 and 4. The Bucks ignored Ojeleye in the corner.

Morris and Tatum can handle Maker and Parker, but Stevens needed them to play on the wing due to Boston’s banged up guard rotation. When active, Shane Larkin averaged 11 minutes a game before Kyrie Irving’s injury in March, and didn’t even suit up for some games. Larkin has played 18 minutes a game for the Celtics this series.

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Smart’s offense leaves much to be desired, but he provides an upgrade on that end over Larkin. Smart excels at using his strength to get into the teeth of the defense and find open shooters. He will create spacing issues off-ball, but those issues are by and large already there.

The Boston Celtics still need Rozier to start hitting shots again, and have no answer for when the Greek Freak takes over. Still, Smart will aid Boston’s non-Freaky defensive woes.