Marcus Smart, shouting match with fan when returning from Boston

BOSTON – Former Boston Celtics and the current Washington Wizards Guardian Marcus Smart said that a fan had “crossed the line” when he had timed the road team bench during the Sunday match at TD Garden, leading to a little cry before the fan came out of the arena.

“He has just crossed the line. We all know, I don’t make a line cross,” said smart after the Celtics beat the 124-90 Wizards. “You never want to see this, especially for a guy who comes back and has given the city everything he has.”

The match between the title champions of the NBA and a team in competition for the worst League record was never close, and Boston led by 35 with about six minutes to play when a hubbub occurred behind the Washington bench. Smart showed a fan, and it seemed that his teammates and a coach tried to hold him back.

Smart said he was pointing man towards security. “By trying to get him out before it degenerates than it was,” he said.

Smart was drafted by the Celtics in 2014 and played the first nine years of his career with the team, but he was exchanged in Memphis in the summer of 2023 in an agreement that brought Kristaps Porzingis to Boston.

The Celtics, who reached the final of the Eastern Conference six times and the NBA final once with Smart, won everything in the first season without him. Smart did not play in last season’s match when the grizzly greeks visited Boston; He played for Memphis in Boston in December.

Back in the city for the first time since he was exchanged in Washington in February, Smart did not play on Sunday while the Wizards focus on young talents and the Draft lottery. During the match, the fans sang: “We want Marcus!”

“Flashbacks, baby,” said smart. “Love is still there. On both sides – myself and the fans, the city. It’s really an emotional return and you try to hold it back. But I love it. I love each last piece. I am part of the city – nine years. A child to a young man.”

Smart spent a lot of time after the match catching up with his former teammates.

“It’s always good to stay in touch with these guys,” he said. “Growed up with these guys. We have gone through a lot of battles-blood, sweat and tears. Some of these guys came to my mom funeral. It is therefore a deeper link than basketball between us.”

In Washington, the club is happy to have it on its side. In fact, a Boston journalist asked Brian Keefe on Sunday on Smart leadership in a young locker room, the Wizards coach summarizing him like “he was great.

“We are delighted to have it in our team,” he added. “Obviously, you know here in this city what he meant for the city of Boston. He is a great leader, a great player.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.