Marcus Smart tells Boston Herald that Celtics are ‘playing like punks'

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A week and a half ago after a loss in Portland ended a 1-4 trip, Marcus Smart made what by all accounts was an impassioned plea to his teammates to step up their effort.

It hasn't helped. The Celtics have gone 2-3 since to fall to 9-9 and a season of lofty expectations is heading perilously in the wrong direction.

Time for another Smart tirade.

After their worst loss of the season, 117-109 to the 5-14 Knicks on Wednesday night - in which the C's trailed by 26 at one point - Smart blasted his team for playing like punks.

"We've got to stop sugarcoating things. That’s the problem," Smart told the Boston Herald's Steve Bulpett. "We’ve got to stop sugarcoating it. We’ve just got to call it what it is. We’re playing like punks; that’s just what it is."

“It’s the same old song," Smart also said. “You know, it gets annoying. I don’t even know what to say at this point. You’ve already done heard it. I’m tired of talking about it. I don’t know.”

An exasperated Smart said, "It's not everybody. You’ve got guys out there that are playing and playing hard. That’s some, but we don’t have all five guys at the same time. So teams are going to continue to whup us.”

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Part of the solution would appear to be on defense after the C's were again torched by an opposing guard. This time, it was the Knicks' Trey Burke, who was two shy of his career high with 29 points. Boston has seen the Hornets' Kemba Walker go for 43 and the Nuggets' Jamal Murray 50 during their slump. 

“We’re not playing defense,” Smart told Bulpett. “There’s no defense. There’s no defense. There’s no defense. Guys are getting where they want to get, when they want to get it, how they want to get it. I don’t know. I don’t know what to say to that.”

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