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Smart and Horford are the sawdust in the explosive Celtics

 Sawdust is mixed with highly-explosive nitroglycerin to produce dynamite and make it less shock-sensitive and much more stable. Forgive the analogy, but frankly, it works. The return of Marcus Smart and Al Horford, and the stability they bring, helped produce a 127-102 victory in Game 2 last night against the Miami Heat, evening the series 1-1.

Smart finished with 24 points, nine boards, 12 assists, three steals, one block and only one turnover. The D-and-D point guard did his usual "Direct-and-Disorient" show, conducting the Celtics offense and disrupting that of the Miami Heat.


Horford's stats may have been less impressive (10 points, 3 rebounds, 3 assists) but he was perfect from the field (4-of-4) and beyond the arc (2-of-2). It was obvious that the Celtics are a better team when he is out there. Al and Marcus helped make sure that this game did not slip away like in Game 1. Like sawdust in the nitro, both starters tend to keep the explosive Jay Team under control just enough to blast the opposition off the floor and not produce self-destruction.

One more thing. Red Auerbach may have been somewhat mistaken. He once stated that non-shooters like K C Jones and Don Chaney could not be made into shooters, and he may have included Smart in that category. Well, for the 2022 post-season, Marcus may not be entering Steph Curry-territory in the accuracy department, but his 40.8% from the field and 36.4% on 3-pointers are acceptable numbers as compared to a few years ago. 

Al and Marcus may not appreciate being compared to finely-shredded wood, but the analogy is much more pertinent than it seems with only a casual view.




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