Boston’s Smart forcing way into Defensive Player of the Year race

Boston Celtics defensive menace Marcus Smart added to his case for winning the Defensive Player of the Year award Sunday night against the OKC Thunder.

Boston Celtics defensive menace Marcus Smart put his stamp on the team’s 112-111 win over the Oklahoma City Thunder on Sunday, but in truth it’s just the way the six-year veteran plays the game.

Attacking each and every possession, the Texan whirlwind did precisely that Feb. 10 with just over a minute left in the game and a nine-point lead over the Thunder.

The tough-as-nails team that they are, OKC refused to go quietly, cutting the lead to three with seconds to go. Guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander brought the ball up the court, getting ready to launch a trey that would have tied the game and sent it to overtime.

Smart calmly poked the ball away and stole instead.

“I just felt like I needed to make a play, ” explained the Flower Mound native (via the Boston Globe’s Adam Himmelsbach) and it was right there for me to make.”

“That was an unbelievable steal by Marcus,” added head coach Brad Stevens.

While an injurious December and busy January schedule took a bit of the polish off of Smart’s Defensive Player of the Year candidacy, he’s been building that case back up.

Over Boston’s recent seven-game winning streak, the Oklahoma State product has returned to the defensive nightmare he was early in the season, and last night’s game-changing play was just the exclamation point in his most recent argument to win the award.

He’ll have his hands full to take an award almost exclusively won by big men in recent years (the Los Angeles Clippers’ Kawhi Leonard a rare example in the last decade), but has re-established his case with his play of late.

Currently, he’s up against the likes of the Milwaukee Bucks’ Giannis Antetokounmpo, Los Angeles Lakers’ Anthony Davis, Utah Jazz’ Rudy Gobert, Miami Heat’s Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo, Portland Trail Blazer’s Hassan Whiteside, and Orlando Magic’s Jonathan Isaac among others.

The former No. 6 overall pick even came in sixth in a recent internal poll among USA Today SMG and Gannett employee poll for the award.

With most of February and all of March and April left, the former Cowboy has his work cut out for him, but as anyone who watches the 25-year-old play, it’s a challenge he’ll attack with gusto.

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