Ime Udoka sheds more light on Celtics’ mid-season turnaround
On Wednesday, legendary sportswriter Jackie MacMullan wrote an article for The Ringer on Boston Celtics coach Ime Udoka. The feature parallels Udoka’s upbringing with how he turned around a struggling Celtics team in the second half of the season.
A portion of MacMullan’s story centered around Marcus Smart’s quote after a November loss to the Bulls. Smart told media Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown, “Don’t want to pass the ball.”
Brown’s reaction to the comments came a couple days later, following a win over the Magic.
“Obviously in the midst of trying to win games, it’s something that we probably didn’t need,” Brown said. “But we all communicate & talk to each other, so we’re all trying to find ways to win and I’m open to any and everything when guys bring it to me.”
Tatum’s reaction to the comments were heard on J.J. Redick’s The Old Man and The Three podcast in February.
“I wasn’t angry or mad or anything,” Tatum said to Redick (via hoopshype.com). “I just waited to the next day. I saw Marcus at the facility and we sat down and talked. It was a great talk actually.”
Udoka hadn’t outwardly spoke out about it until he talked to MacMullan about his reaction and what the team did afterwards.
“It was nothing I hadn’t said behind closed doors,” Udoka told MacMullan. “But in this case, it was a player saying it publicly. And what Marcus was saying in that particular game was totally invalid. Jayson and Jaylen were drawing a lot of doubles and were making the correct pass each time—including to Marcus—who couldn’t make a shot that night.”
MacMullan added that, “Udoka called Smart in. He reminded him that bad habits—including Smart’s own—wouldn’t dissipate overnight. He told him his star teammates were wounded and embarrassed by his comments. Then he informed his veteran point guard: This is your mess. Fix it.”
MacMullan continues by detailing the dialogue of what transpired after Smart’s comments, eventually leading to the mid-season turnaround that nobody expected. A team that was 18-21 on Jan. 6 finished the final 43 games with a 33-10 record and are now playing in the NBA Finals.
