Boston’s Marcus Smart critical of Jaylen Brown, Jayson Tatum’s passing in Bulls loss, but issues run deeper

Boston’s inability to close games out comes from inexperience, effort, and a lack of understanding new schemes on both ends of the court.

For most of the game against the Chicago Bulls, it looked indeed as if the Boston Celtics had indeed turned the corner when it comes to putting in a consistent product in terms of effort on both ends of the court.

After a bit of a rough start, the Celtics clamped down their focus and effort, and built a 19-point lead by the third quarter, only to see Chicago attack them in the fourth quarter relentlessly, with a strong response from Boston nowhere to be found. After the game, a 14 point loss that dropped the club to a 5 – 2 record, veteran point guard Marcus Smart had plenty to say about what went wrong.

“I think if we knew the answer, we wouldn’t be here talking about it,” Smart offered, clearly perturbed with the loss.