Marcus Smart was interviewed following Boston’s tough Game 4 loss to the Nets, 141-126. Smart spoke on what it was like playing in front of a packed house at TD Garden for the first time in over a year. “It was great, you know. Having the fans there and it was refreshing…we missed them, I know they missed us…it was electrifying in the building exactly how we expected it to be and we love it.” Smart also gave praise to teammate Jayson Tatum, saying “Jayson what more can you say. I mean, dude is great, yeah. He’s proven it night in and night out, and he’s proving it beyond measures of what we expected. We expect him to be great but he’s surpassing and going even higher, so you know, you tip your hat to that man. Young fellow doing his thing”
Following the game, a boneheaded fan threw a water bottle at Kyrie Irving as the Nets exited the court down the tunnel. The culprit was arrested immediately, and Smart was asked to give his thoughts on the altercation. “Yeah, I heard it, I heard about it,” said Smart. “From my understanding, the culprit was definitely taken care of very quickly. So you know, we’re glad that it got taken care of, and unfortunately…one bad seed you know doesn’t mean that the whole fruit is poison…our fans have been great, you know? We just had a knucklehead decide to do something knucklehead-ish, and it’s gotten taken care of and we’re happy for that.”
Smart was asked about Brooklyn’s absurd fast start in the 2nd quarter, going 7 of 7 for their first seven shots from the field. “That first seven shots you know…they got three great players. They got a great surrounding cast…it’s tough you know? But we just got to continue to fight, and I’m proud of the way we fought tonight. We didn’t come out with the win and come out that way but we’ve got another game, another chance to go out there and fight even harder”
On the team’s effort never wavering, Smart was proud. ‘You can’t feel discouraged. We fought to the end…like I said, we playing against a great team, they got three great players…they make tough shots…you tip your hat off to and you continue to play…you just make every shot that they continue to take as hard as you can you know and they make it too, you tip hat off to them”
