MILWAUKEE -- Down by one point with only a few ticks left on the game clock, Boston Celtics ball.
We all know who the play in the time-out is going to be called for, right?
It’s . . . Marcus Morris?
While the final shot in Boston’s 98-97 loss to the Bucks was taken by leading scorer Kyrie Irving, Marcus Smart -- the man who in-bounded the pass to Irving and knew better than anyone what the Celtics were looking for on that potential game-winning sequence -- said the first option on the play was for Morris with Irving as the No. 2 option.
“We were looking for Morris off of Kyrie’s down screen,” Smart told NBC Sports Boston. “Kyrie set a great back-screen and Morris . . . fell down. The dude was holding; he had been held. Once that play was done, the second option was for Kyrie. He (Irving) made a great play, got the ball up. We had a chance.”
☘️ BUCKS 98, CELTICS 97
It’s unclear on the replay whether Milwaukee’s Khris Middleton, who was defending Morris, had held him or made enough contact to throw Morris off stride with what the Celtics believed would have been a potential game-winning lay-up.
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Following Irving’s miss at the buzzer, Morris was clearly upset at what he felt was a non-call, with Smart and assistant coach Jerome Allen trying to stand in between an upset Morris and the nearest official.
After the game, Morris respectfully declined to speak with the media.
“I tried to set a good screen for Mook,” Irving said. ‘I don’t know if he got fouled or not. I had 3.5 seconds and tried to make the best play.”
Irving added, “We had a chance to win at the end of the game. A few calls didn’t go our way.”
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