Marcus Smart Ejected For Punch Below The Belt
BOSTON (CBS) – The Celtics fell on the road to San Antonio on Friday night. But rookie guard Marcus Smart wasn't around to see the end of the game.
Smart was ejected with just under nine minutes remaining in the team's 101-89 loss to the Spurs after he received a Flagrant 2 foul when he appeared to punch Matt Bonner below the belt.
The play came with the Celtics trailing by an 88-66 margin.
Bonner went to set a pick on Smart, and the Celtics guard worked to fight through the screen. But as he did, video showed he also took a swing that connected in the area of Bonner's groin.
The normally mild-mannered Bonner confronted Smart following the play, and initial referees gave each player a technical foul.
But after consulting the video replay, officials rescinded Bonner's technical and ejected Smart from the game.
"I saw the play and spoke to Marcus. For me, from my standpoint it looks like an unacceptable play. You can't do that. It's as simple as that," Boston head coach Brad Stevens said after the game.
This is not the first time Smart has shown his temper on the court, nor his first ejection this year.
Earlier this season he was ejected from the Celtics game versus Orlando when he landed a high elbow on a Magic player during a drive to the basket.
Last February when he was playing at Oklahoma State, Smart grabbed national headlines when he shoved a Texas Tech fan in the final seconds of a four-point loss.
Stevens said Smart's latest incident is something he hopes is a learning experience for the young player.
"You've got to be able to handle it," Stevens said. "That's something that hopefully he'll mature from and grow from, but that's something that no matter how the game is going, no matter how frustrated you are, no matter how many times something hasn't gone your way, you have to do the right thing and make the appropriate play. And it wasn't."
