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Just minutes after the Boston Celtics blew a 17-point lead on Thursday and dropped Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Finals to the Miami Heat, tempers boiled over inside the locker room and players could be heard from the outside yelling at each other.
Marcus Smart, who was the most vocal inside of the locker room, spoke with the media on Monday for the first time since the verbal altercation and said the moment was “electrifying” for the team. Smart downplayed the incident and said things like that are bound to happen.
[It was] electrifying what happened in the locker room. We’re a family. Families fight all of the time. I fight with my brothers all of the time. But at the end of the day, we can fight with each other, nobody else can. It happens between families, especially between a family like us, who has been together for so long; it’s going to happen.
Following the locker room outburst, the Celtics came out in Game 3 on Saturday and posted their third wire-to-wire victory of the postseason with a 117-106 win over the Heat to bring the series to 2-1 with Game 4 looming on Wednesday.
Celtics rookie Grant Williams on Monday praised Smart and called him the vocal leader of the team. Williams said Smart sets the bar for the Celtics and leads the way with his play.
He’s our heart and soul. He is the guy that keeps us going, keeps us inspired and keeps up competitive. He’s our dog. We just have to follow his lead and trust that we have a lot of guys on this team that can do a lot of great things. He is going to just compete his butt off and if we follow that standard, follow that lead and I think we’ll be well set off.
Four of the Celtics’ starters in Game 3 scored at least 20 points and the group will once again need to match that energy and effort in Game 4 in order to have a chance to even the Eastern Conference Finals at two games apiece.
Game 4 is set to tip-off Wednesday at 8:30 p.m. ET on ESPN.
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