Boston Celtics guard Marcus Smart will miss Sunday's game against the Detroit Pistons as he serves a one-game suspension for hitting Matt Bonner in the groin during the Celtics' 101-89 loss to the San Antonio Spurs on Friday night.
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The below-the-belt strike in question took place early in the fourth quarter of Friday's contest at the AT&T Center in San Antonio:
Just past the nine-minute mark of the final frame, Smart reared back and rocked the San Antonio big man south of the border, earning him a flagrant foul-2 and an automatic ejection. Smart finished with 10 points on 3-for-9 shooting, four assists, one steal and one turnover in 23 minutes of floor time in the loss, Boston's second straight following a five-game winning streak that helped put them squarely in the mix for one of the final two playoff spots in the Eastern Conference.
Smart tried to defend himself after Friday's game, claiming the low blow was a natural and unintentional outgrowth of being screened by Spurs center Aron Baynes, according to Steve Bulpett of the Boston Herald:
"He had his arms up high, and the way he hit me threw my body back, so it forced all my momentum to come forward. And [Bonner] just happened to jump in the way as I was to rip through and rip up, and he got caught. I mean, like I told him, I wasn't trying to intentionally do it ... It was just a freak accident, [an] inadvertent arm that happened to connect."
His coach disagreed. Said Brad Stevens, "From my standpoint, it looks like an unacceptable play. That's what I said. I had not seen it when I spoke to the team and spoke to Marcus, but you can’t do that. Simple as that."
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It seems fair to suspect that Bonner, the recipient of the groin strike, would agree with Stevens' assessment. However, the long-tenured Spurs reserve — who's become something of a folk hero among a certain cohort of basketball fans over the years — found himself on the receiving end of something far more pleasant in the aftermath of the Friday night quarrel, according to Dan McCarney of the San Antonio Express-News:
The chants rolled down from the AT&T Center stands, the type normally reserved for only the greatest of athletic achievements.
“Bonner! Bonner! Bonner! Bonner!”
Spurs forward Matt Bonner didn’t make a key 3-pointer, or throw down a rare dunk in Friday’s victory over Boston. No, Bonner was celebrated for nearly coming to blows with Marcus Smart after the Celtics rookie struck him in the groin with a flailing blow in the fourth quarter.
Always a fan favorite despite his modest production, Bonner was touched and honored by the support.
“It meant a lot to hear the crowd chanting my name,” he said. “It filled me with pride to be a Spur and to be able to play in front of such great fans.”
Smart, on the other hand, won't be playing in front of the Boston faithful at TD Garden on Sunday. The Celtics enter the day's action at 30-38, a half-game up on the Indiana Pacers and Charlotte Hornets, and a full game clear of the Brooklyn Nets, in the race for the East's No. 8 seed. They'll look to halt their two-game skid against a Pistons club that's posted a 3-11 record over the past month, but that has scored two impressive wins this week, topping the playoff-bound Memphis Grizzlies on Tuesday and Chicago Bulls on Saturday.
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Dan Devine is an editor for Ball Don't Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at devine@yahoo-inc.com or follow him on Twitter!
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