• Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Boston Sports Today

Boston Sports News Contentiously Updated

  • Patriots
  • Red Sox
  • Bruins
  • Celtics
  • Revolution
  • Colleges
    • Boston College
    • Boston University
    • Harvard
    • Northeastern
    • Providence
    • UMass

Why Ime Udoka Isn’t Blaming Marcus Smart For Crucial Game 5 Miscue

May 13, 2022 by NESN

NESN Logo


Sign In

window[‘TVEPlayer’] = “1705741332549379442”;
if( typeof window[‘NEILSENTRACE’] !== ‘undefined’ ){
window[‘NEILSENTRACE’].init();
} else {
console.log(“Neilsen not ready at player ready”);
}

//players.brightcove.net/6147775127001/YUi0jWOXK_default/index.min.js
https://players.brightcove.net/videojs-bc-playlist-ui/3/videojs-bc-playlist-ui.min.js

It would be easy for Celtics fans to point the finger at Marcus Smart for what went down Wednesday night at TD Garden.

After the Bucks took a very late lead in Game 5, Boston had a chance to score a potential game-winning basket following a side-out with 11 seconds left in the fourth quarter. Marcus Smart ultimately received the in-bound pass and drove toward the basket along the baseline, but Jrue Holiday blocked his shot attempt and also managed to maintain possession for Milwaukee.

That proved to be the self-inflicted dagger for the Celtics, who suffered a 110-107 loss and now trail 3-2 in this best-of-seven Eastern Conference semifinals series.

The optics on Smart during that crucial sequence obviously aren’t great. But during an appearance Thursday on 98.5 The Sports Hub’s “Zolak and Bertrand,” C’s head coach Ime Udoka explained why Smart isn’t to blame for Boston not converting on its penultimate possession of the pivotal contest.

“We didn’t execute as well as we wanted to,” Udoka said. “We had some off-side action, bringing a specific player on their team up into the action to get the switch. We knew how they’d be defending it. Didn’t get into it quick enough and get the ball where we wanted. So, Marcus had to go make a play — five-second count counting down and no timeouts. Nothing to blame Marcus about that at all. It was really our lack of execution overall as a team.”

Even if Smart made a poor decision in that situation, he shouldn’t shoulder the bulk of the blame for the Celtics’ Game 5 loss. Boston, as a team, didn’t want it as much as Milwaukee down the stretch and it will need to flip that script Friday at Fiserv Forum if it wants to extend its season.

More Celtics:

Celtics’ Robert Williams Remains Out In Game 6 Vs. Bucks

The post Why Ime Udoka Isn’t Blaming Marcus Smart For Crucial Game 5 Miscue appeared first on NESN.com.

Filed Under: Celtics

Primary Sidebar

Recent Posts

  • Brayan Bello has stepped up to the next level
  • OTM Open Thread 7/14: All Star Day
  • Gary Washburn on Jayson Tatum recruiting Damian Lillard: They’re communicating
  • Bruins Have 2 Potential Breakout Forwards
  • Red Sox might’ve gotten one of the biggest 2025 MLB Draft steals with LSU star

Categories

  • Bruins
  • Celtics
  • Colleges
    • Boston College
    • Boston University
    • Harvard
    • Northeastern
    • Providence
    • UMass
  • Patriots
  • Red Sox
  • Revolution
  • Uncategorized

Archives

Our Partners


All Sports

  • Boston Globe
  • Boston.com
  • Boston Herald
  • 247 Sports
  • 985 The Sports Hub
  • Bleacher Report
  • Chowder And Champions
  • NESN
  • The Sports Fan Journal
  • The Spun
  • USA Today
  • WEEI Sports Radio Network

Baseball

  • MLB.com
  • Bosox Injection
  • Last Word On Baseball
  • MLB Trade Rumors
  • Over The Monster

Basketball

  • NBA.com
  • Amico Hoops
  • Celtics Blog
  • Celtics Wire
  • Hardwood Houdini
  • Hoops Hype
  • Hoops Rumors
  • Last Word On Pro Basketball
  • Pro Basketball Talk
  • Real GM

Football

  • New England Patriots
  • Last Word On Pro Football
  • Musket Fire
  • NFL Trade Rumors
  • Our Turf Football
  • Patriots Gab
  • Patriots Wire
  • Pats Pulpit
  • Pro Football Focus
  • Pro Football Rumors
  • Pro Football Talk
  • Total Patriots

Hockey

  • Causeway Crowd
  • Elite Prospects
  • Last Word On Hockey
  • Pro Hockey Rumors
  • Pro Hockey Talk
  • Stanley Cup Of Chowder
  • The Hockey Writers

Soccer

  • Last Word on Soccer
  • MLS Multiplex
  • The Bent Musket

Colleges

  • BC Interruption
  • Big East Coast Bias
  • Busting Brackets
  • College Football News
  • College Sports Madness
  • Eagle In Atlanta
  • Forgotten 5
  • Saturday Blitz
  • The Heights
  • Zags Blog

Copyright © 2025 · Magazine Pro on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in