Hayward: Smart ‘one of the best competitors I’ve ever been around’

Some days are diamonds, and some days are stone, but Marcus Smart doing Marcus Smart things is 24/7.

“Some days are diamonds, some days are stones,” observed veteran Boston Celtics forward Gordon Hayward. “You’ve got to move on and get to the next one.”

After digging one’s way out of a 17-2 hole only to have questionable refereeing snatch defeat from the jaws of victory in the game’s final moments, that’s probably sage advice.

And while Kemba Walker had his night cut short early by his minutes restriction and Jayson Tatum one of the worst shooting nights of his career, it wasn’t the All-Stars who carried the team against the Milwaukee Bucks Friday night.

It was the longest-tenured Celtic, Marcus Smart.

“He was terrific for sure on the defensive end,” opined Hayward.

“He did Marcus Smart things that we all are very accustomed to and love, and that we’ve been feeling in practice the last three weeks. So, it’s good to see him just being disruptive for guys on the other team, and then he had some big time timely shots and big threes, a couple of and-1s, I think.”

“He’s a great player; he’s one of the best competitors I’ve ever been around and love having him on our team,” added the Indiana native.

And even with the rough-shooting night for Tatum and the lack of late fouls for Giannis Antetokounmpo — in fact, because of them — Hayward is optimistic based on Friday’s outcome.

“For us, we’ve just got to continue to get good looks,” explained the Butler product.

“We have so many talented players; [Jayson Tatum], whatever he shot from the field, we still [had] a chance to win the game. And I believe we should have won the game — just this couple plays at the end there, so that just shows the depth of our team.”

The team should be pleased, even in the loss.

Both with how it responded to the early miscues that lead to that deep hole, and how it maintained its composure even as events beyond their control made victory near-impossible late in the fourth.

While defenses will cue in on Tatum more now, and stars in this league will continue to get star calls, the one thing the Celtics have in their corner is the depth of their star talent.

And while it certainly stung a bit to lose such a close game with Walker on the bench, the UConn product is looking better with each outing while Jaylen Brown continues to spread his wings.

Some days are diamonds, and some days are stone, but it’s only with the unified effort and resolve Boston showed and Smart was emblematic of that this team has a shot at a deep playoff run.

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