Marcus Smart is beloved by fans in Boston, and what transpired on Saturday night served as a reminder of that point.
Smart went down with an ankle injury a minute into the third quarter of Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Finals between his Celtics and the Miami Heat on Saturday night. Smart collided with Kyle Lowry while they were chasing a rebound and came down hurt.
Even though Smart appeared to be in tremendous pain, he was able to return to the game about four minutes later. Smart received a huge applause when he checked back into the game.
The reigning Defensive Player of the Year still wound up playing 37 minutes in the game, though he was an uncharacteristically poor -15.
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