Marcus Smart dismisses report that Celtics players ‘never got over’ Ime Udoka firing

"It’s on us. There’s only so much any coach can do for you out there as a player."

Marcus Smart pushed back against the notion that the Celtics players have not recovered from Ime Udoka's dismissal. (Jim Davis/Globe Staff)

By Conor Ryan

May 23, 2023

3 minutes to read

Marcus Smart is pushing back against the ESPN report that the Celtics players “never got over” the suspension — and later dismissal — of head coach Ime Udoka.

“No, no,” Smart said of the report Tuesday morning, per CLNS Media video. “Regardless of if Ime was here or not, we’re the ones out there playing. We gotta go out there and play. Joe does a great job of putting us in the right positions.

“They come up with a game plan. It’s on us. There’s only so much any coach can do for you out there as a player. At some point you gotta look at yourself and figure it out.”

Just ahead of Game 4 of the Western Conference Finals on Monday night, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported that the Celtics roster has bristled over the lack of transparency into the decision to suspend Udoka last fall, as well as the severity of the punishment.

“These players did not accept the organization’s reasoning for doing it. They thought it was a wild overreaction,” Wojnarowski said. “There were a lot of people on the outside who thought it was an overreaction, it was an HR matter.”

“I think with this team, and talking with management, they never got the answers, they never got anymore answers than the public was getting on this,” Wojnarowski added. “That doesn’t mean they haven’t accepted Joe Mazzulla as head coach. But this is a team that really believed in Ime Udoka, had a strong connection with him. I think there were a couple instances this season where a lot of that angst resurfaced. First, when the Brooklyn Nets nearly hired Udoka as head coach and then when the Rockets did.”

Just before the start of training camp, the Celtics suspended Udoka indefinitely for multiple team policy violations due to an alleged inappropriate relationship with a female team employee. Boston ultimately named Joe Mazzulla as interim head coach before removing that interim tag and dismissing Udoka in February.

According to ESPN, an investigation from an independent law firm found that Udoka used crude language against the female subordinate prior to the start of their relationship. After parting ways with the Celtics, Udoka was named as the head coach of the Houston Rockets last month.

Mazzulla, thrust into a head-coaching role at 34 years old, has drawn plenty of criticism throughout the postseason, especially with Boston now on the brink of elimination with an 0-3 deficit against the Miami Heat.

Following a blowout loss to the Heat in Game 3 on Sunday night, Mazzulla took most of the blame for Boston’s lackluster showing at Kaseya Center.

“I just didn’t have them ready to play,” Mazzulla said. “I just didn’t have them execute the proper game plan. I didn’t put them in the right mentality to be ready. It’s my job to make sure that they’re connected and ready to play and I didn’t do that.”

Smart was not surprised that Mazzulla tried to place most of the blame on himself following the Celtics’ lopsided defeat. But much like his comments regarding Udoka, Smart reiterated that the players on the court are the ones responsible for Boston’s current predicament.

“That’s who Joe is,” Smart said. “He’s a competitor. He wants to be perfect, he wants to do everything right. But it’s not on Joe. Joe can’t go out there and check himself into the game. It’s on us. We appreciate Joe taking it, but everything isn’t on Joe.”