On Tuesday night, the Boston Celtics suffered one of the season’s most shocking defeats. Despite a 39-point, 11-rebound performance from Jaylen Brown, the Celtics were defeated 119-115 by the lowly Oklahoma City Thunder.
As a result of the outburst, one of the team’s top rotation players has been suspended. Marcus Smart was accused of “directing threatening language against” one of the referees, according to the league, who crossed some kind of line in his interactions with the officials “during and after” the game. As a result, the Celtics’ glue guy will face the Charlotte Hornets on Wednesday night for a one-game suspension.
It’s unclear exactly what Smart said to warrant this suspension, or the referee enraged him to the point of receiving a suspension. Even though he’s furious about how a game has gone, Smart is the team’s emotional leader, and he’s always pretty good at understanding the line he can’t reach. Still, any suspension for Smart will be a blow to Boston, which is fighting to remain in the 6-seed and avoid missing out on the Eastern Conference play-in tournament.
