Marcus Smart backs up his talk in hostile environment of elimination game in Philly

BOSTON -- Marcus Smart didn't talk for a very long time after Tuesday night's Game 5 loss, but he packed a large message into a concise statement.

"We've got to go into a hostile environment, and we got to just go take it. It's not going to be easy. It's going to be a dogfight, and it's who wants it more," Smart said of his team's needs in Game 6. "If you're not willing to pretty much get dirty, if you're not willing to bleed, if you're not willing to break something, willing to tear something going hard, then you shouldn't be on that court, because that's what it is. That's what the playoffs are about. Hopefully you stay safe, but that's the mentality. You gotta go, you gotta be willing to risk it all for these games. And that's the mentality we've got to have."

Smart took the court with his Celtics teammates for a win-or-go-home Game 6 in Philadelphia two nights later, and it didn't take him long to put those words into action.

Less than three minutes into the game, Smart ripped a ball out of Joel Embiid's hands then drew a transition take foul on the league MVP. 

That came a minute after Smart hit a 3-pointer to score the first points of the game, beginning a 15-3 run for Boston to start the game.

And while Jayson Tatum and Al Horford struggled mightily from the field throughout the game, Smart was a steadying, leading presence in his 42 minutes on the floor.

By the end of the night, Smart led the team in points (22), field goals (8) and assists (7) while tying for the team lead in steals (2), offensive rebounds (2) and plus-minus (+18). His defense helped the Celtics essentially pitch a shutout on defense over the final 5:57 of the game. (The Sixers made one free throw and one basket with 22.2 seconds left in the game after the 5:57 mark.)

"I just thought he brought a level of, he got the pace going for us from start to finish," head coach Joe Mazzulla said. "He did a great job of keeping his poise. He was the quarterback of our defense, him and Rob [WIlliams]. When Smart can dictate the pace like that and get us into offense and get us into spacing and just play with that level of toughness, it's contagious. He's one of our emotional leaders. He does that for us."

It was Smart's most complete game of the postseason, and it was sorely needed.

Though Tatum poured in 16 points in the fourth quarter, including a trio of threes that helped turn a one-point deficit into an eight-point lead. But that surge came after Tatum had scored just three points through the first three quarters. Horford, meanwhile, was 1-for-5 from the field, scoring just two points. Jaylen Brown scored 17 points, too, while Malcolm Brogdon scored 16 off the bench.

"I can't say enough about, throughout the game, Marcus Smart was that steady [force] for us," Horford said. "He kept it steady, he stayed the course."

The Celtics were outscored by nine points in the third quarter, and they trailed 83-81 midway through the final quarter. In a charged-up Wells Fargo Center, the game -- and the season -- easily could have gotten away from Boston. The late scoring surge from Tatum prevented that from happening, but that strong play from Smart throughout the game allowed that moment to happen.