NBA EASTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: CELTICS VS. HEAT

September 15, 2020

Marcus Smart

Boston Celtics

Game 1: Postgame

Miami Heat 117, Boston Celtics 114 OT

Q. Your thoughts on Game 1? Obviously going to be a very challenging series. You knew that. What were your thoughts on what took place tonight?

MARCUS SMART: It was exactly how we expected it. It was a great game. Two great teams who play really hard. They got the plays at the end that mattered. They did their job. It's up to us to come back in Game 2 and do ours.

Q. Up 14 early in the fourth. What happened? Obviously they got into a bonus, starting living at the line. What happened there? And then the offense in overtime late in the game, why did it get stagnant?

MARCUS SMART: Exactly that, it got stagnant. We rested. We got complacent. Against a team like this, you can't get complacent. Up 14, up 20, up 30 -- they're really good from playing behind.

Like I said, when it counted, they made the plays down the stretch. Damn good play by Bam. Great play by Bam. Like I said, they did their job. It's time for us to do ours in Game 2.

Q. What allowed them to be able to get the shots they were able to down the stretch in both regulation and overtime?

MARCUS SMART: A lot of miscommunication on my part. Then a lot of the guys hit some tough shots. We believe if we clean a couple things up, we could fix those things, it would be a different outcome.

Got to tip your hat off to those guys. They executed very well down the stretch. We didn't, especially on the defensive end. Like I said, miscommunication on a lot of guys' part. And in transition, we allowed them to do what they do best, and that's get out and run.

Q. You said you felt like you got complacent. It felt like that in the second quarter as well. Why tonight were you letting your feet off the gas?

MARCUS SMART: Don't know. It's something that happens. But it's something that we can fix. That's the good thing about it. We'll come in tomorrow, see what we got to do, watch the film, see what we got to tweak and fix. We'll come back on Thursday and hopefully get a Game 2 win.

Q. On the complacency thing, Game 3 against Toronto, Game 6 against Toronto, where the same thing happened. It's been a problem for you guys this season. You say it can be fixed, but can it? It keeps happening.

MARCUS SMART: Yeah, I mean, it's definitely something that can be fixed. It's part of the game. You're not going to be perfect every night. You're going to make mistakes. You just try to learn from those mistakes on both ends.

Q. The Heat were able to get into the penalty early in the fourth quarter. You mentioned communication earlier in defense. Is it that or just being more disciplined in the man-to-man matchups for you guys?

MARCUS SMART: It's both. We have to put our hands back. We have to keep our hands up and make them go through us. We bailed them out, especially late on a couple of those shots that they were taking, to get them to the line. Silly fouls.

You got to guard your yard. They put a lot of guys in isolation, picked on a lot of guys. We got to guard our yard, plain and simple.

Q. Seemed like they were totally taking Jaylen out of the game defensively. What can you do besides the Tatum isos to make sure you get a good shot on each possession?

MARCUS SMART: Continue to move. We're great, but to play a team like this is going to take everybody. When we allow those guys to set their defense and just look at the ball and we're not moving, it's tough. That's tough to beat anybody.

For us, those isos are [indiscernible]. We just have to limit those isos as much as we can and just really get them moving. Just play and keep them on their heels.