Celtics ☘️ Sentinel

 Despite the usual questioning of Marcus Smart's value - or lack thereof - to the Boston Celtics, I am solidly behind him unless I see solid reasons to think otherwise. Mainly, The Wolverine needs to follow his late mom's advice, and "calm his ass down" .  Five years ago , ESPN's Chris Forsberg wrote the following : Marcus Smart's phone was buzzing as he looked down:  "Mama."  He had a good idea why she was calling. "She calls me and she yells at me. She tells me to  calm my 'so-and-so' down,"  Smart said. Earlier that night, Smart had angrily stomped in the direction of  Philadelphia 76ers rookie Ben Simmons  after a  flare-up  between the two in the final moments of Boston's Game 1 triumph. "She tells me breathe and keep going and know that's what people are going to try to do, get in my head, and force me to do those type of things, Smart said. "Just keep my cool." Marcus once said he considers basketball a...

 The Celtics record this season with Marcus Smart on the sidelines is 5-4 (.556), including a 3-game losing streak in the team's last three games. With The Wolverine on the court, the team is 30-11 (.732).   So what are they missing when Marcus is out of action? No stats really stand out, so I will go with the subjective factors such as "energy", "fire" and "intensity" . This present Celtics crew maintains a tenuous hold on the number-one spot in the Rankings, but they are still prone to relaxing at certain points in games. That doesn't happen as often with Marcus directing the offense and bugging the Hell out of the opposition on defense.   He remains the unofficial leader of The Green , and they are not the same without him. When his latest ailment heals, he will be welcomed back to help reverse that bothersome losing streak.

 I never doubt what I see from the NBA's Taylor Snow , but when I saw his tweet on the very-high Net Rating for the Celtics five starters , I needed to verify it first hand. Boston's regular starting 5 of Marcus Smart, Jaylen Brown, Jayson Tatum, Al Horford, and Rob Williams has by far the best net rating (21.3) among all Eastern Conference lineups (min. 150 minutes). pic.twitter.com/m3p8639TZO — Taylor Snow (@taylorcsnow) January 26, 2022 Yes, it's true . According to NBA.com's stats,  the Boston Celtics starting-5 of Al Horford, Rob Williams, Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown and Marcus Smart not only are tops in the East in Net Rating (second-overall), but they are ranked number-one in the NBA in Defensive Rating . In 14 games thus far this season, the frequent-starting quintet, in 14 games, have played together a total of 174 minutes - and despite much negativity on the general underachievement of The Green  in 2021-22, The Jay Team, Wolverine, Sky Pilot and Affable Al a...

 Over the past 60 years, the Celtics two greatest players, Bill Russell and Larry Bird , never played for another team during their careers on the hardwood. And Bob Cousy, Tom Heinsohn, The Jones Boys, Tom Heinsohn never played elsewhere. Okay, Cooz did a brief comeback as a player at the age of 41 when he coached The Cincinnati Royals, but I'm not counting it. Hell, you get the idea! First, let me get something straight! My moniker, The Wolverine , for Marcus has ZERO to do with the film series - and everything to do with one of the most ferocious critters to roam the woods (per Wikipedia):  It (wolverine) is a muscular carnivore and a solitary animal. [2]  The wolverine has a reputation for ferocity and strength out of proportion to its size, with the documented ability to kill prey many times larger than itself. Sound about right? "Muscular carnivore". ""Ferocity and strength out of proportion to its size." That's our guy. Smart admits to having a...