(The Sports Xchange) – Evan Turner called Boston Celtics teammate Marcus Smart the best player on the court on Sunday at TD Garden.
He probably was right — and this was in a game that saw Atlanta Hawks forward Paul Millsap go off for 45 points.
Smart scored 20 points, grabbed eight rebounds, handed out five assists and played great defense on Millsap, as the Celtics, down by 16 in the third quarter, evened the best-of-seven, Eastern Conference first-round playoff series at two games apiece with a 104-95 overtime win.
Millsap scored only two points over the final 5:33 of regulation and the entire overtime.
Smart, only the second player since 1992 to register at least 28/8/5 off the bench in an NBAplayoff game, scored 11 consecutive points for the Celtics in the fourth quarter. He then opened the overtime with a pair of assists to Amir Johnson. Boston never trailed in the OT, during which Atlanta hit just one of its 11 shots.
