Yes, it's true. Long chided for his reckless putting up of reckless shots - NBA.com ranks Marcus Smart number-7 in shooting percentage (53.3%) in Crunch Time - which is "when the score is within five points in the final five minutes of the fourth quarter or overtime".
How can this be? Has anyone checked up on this? I am being sarcastic. The Wolverine is hitting a career-high 45% of his field goal attempts this season - and apparently his accuracy rises significantly with the game on the line. Smart's critics will not like this article.
Smart's heroics in the fourth quarter are nothing new - although Clutch-Time-Marklsmanship may be. Years ago, former Celtics, Chauncey Billups, wrote something about Marcus' winning plays:
Y'all say what u want about Marcus Smart but that kid makes winning plays every game in the 4th.
— Chauncey Billups (@1MrBigShot) May 22, 2017
In a close win over the Kings in 2019, I previously wrote about Smart's heroics late in the game:
"Winning plays in the 4th?" Well, Smart did it once again last night as the Celtics tweaked out a 103-102 win over the Sacramento Kings. In the final 49 seconds of the contest, Marcus made several critical plays that decided the game in Boston's favor. With the score tied at 99-99, he put up a fadeaway 3-pointer that bounced around and finally fell through.
Next up was a spinning, bully-ball drive right through his defender for a layup. But Marcus wasn't done. His steal at the 28:8 mark of the fourth quarter took enough time off the clock for Boston to come away with the win.
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