As Marcus Smart’s short jumper bounced around the rim before giving the Boston Celtics a two-point lead over the Sacramento Kings in the final minutes of the fourth quarter, all he could think of was the last time he took the game-winning shot in Sacramento.
A floater that left the arena in suspense as it rimmed-out, snapping the Celtics’ 10-game winning streak.
“Not again,” Smart thought.
If the referees during Monday’s game had made the correct call before Smart took his final shot, a layup that put Boston up 103-102 (the final score), he wouldn’t have been breathing a sigh of relief.
Not when the Celtics may have lost against Sacramento because he turned the ball over.
According the NBA’s Last Two Minute report (h/t the Boston Globe’s Adam Himmelsbach), Smart travelled on the game-winning basket that saw him use a screen to set himself for a spinning layup around Kings guard Cory Joseph.
That’s a turnover.
With 31.1 seconds left, the Celtics would have likely have opted to try to get a defensive stop and had at least seven seconds left on the game clock if they did.
However, their chances of either making that shot or stopping Sacramento from scoring on the previous possession — on a night that Kings guard Buddy Hield was 11-21 from three-point range — are far from absolute certainties.
With that potential loss, the Celtics could have lost their fourth game in five and their third game in a row. Fortunately for them, they avoided the three-game skid; which wouldn’t have induced panic but could have been a momentum-killer.
Smart, who has had his fair share of issues with missed calls from referees, won’t be complaining about this one.
