Boston Celtics guard Marcus Smart delivered blunt criticism on his team's star duo, Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown, following a shocking collapse against the Chicago Bulls on Monday.
The Celtics looked on course for the win late in the third quarter when they led by as much as 19, but the Bulls outscored them 39-11 in the fourth. Boston lost 128-114, dropping to 2-5 on the season.
Smart feels one aspect that Tatum and Brown need to improve is involving their teammates.
"I think everybody's scouting report is to make those guys try to pass the ball. They don't want to pass the ball, and that's something that they're going to learn," Smart said postgame, courtesy of MassLive's Brian Robb.
"They're still learning, and we're proud of the progress they are making, but they are going to have to make another step and find ways to not only create for themselves but create for others on this team ... It's something that we've been asking for them to do and they're learning. We just got to continue to help those guys do that and to help our team."
After going 7-of-14 from the floor through the first three quarters, Tatum went cold in the fourth and shot 1-of-8 while contributing one assist and a steal. Tatum played just over 10 minutes but was a minus-25 in the quarter.
Brown, meanwhile, finished a minus-21 in the frame. He missed both his field-goal attempts and failed to register a single point, rebound, assist, steal, or block in the fourth.
Both stars opted not to speak with media after the loss, according to the Boston Herald's Mark Murphy.
Head coach Ime Udoka believes his players lost their focus late in the third quarter rather than attempt to put Chicago away for good.
"Some nights you deserve to win, like I felt against Washington, some nights you deserve to lose when you don't take a game seriously," he said, courtesy of NBC Sports Boston. "We lost our composure there a little bit when they started blitzing Jayson, but overall it was that we relaxed when we got the lead, acted like the game was over.
"It's a lesson learned, a hard one that should hurt," Udoka added. "Should be pissed off. But don't play with the game. Mess around with the game, it's going to come back to bite you."
