Boston Celtics guard Marcus Smart reacted as if a firecracker had gone off nearby when Milwaukee Bucks guard Jrue Holiday stepped forward and simply snatched the ball from him in the final moments of Wednesday’s Game 5 of the Eastern Conference semifinals, helping Milwaukee seal a 110-107 win at Boston and take a 3-2 series lead.
The Milwaukee guys naturally took notice, particularly since Smart was named this year’s NBA Defensive Player of the Year and Holiday, also acclaimed for his defense, came in eighth in the voting. But Holiday’s steal and block against Smart turned out to be two gigantic moments. And Smart’s overly exuberant reaction to the latter, which aligns with Bucks fans’ sentiment that Smart has a propensity for “failure,” has joined the meme-verse.
Plus:Aaron Rodgers, JJ Watt, Brandon Jennings and others react to the Bucks’ big comeback against the Celtics in Game 5 of the NBA playoff series
Smart became the first guard since 1996 to be named the league’s Defensive Player of the Year. Giannis Antetokounmpo was sixth in the voting, and Celtics big man Robert Williams was seventh, just ahead of Holiday.
Check out these examples of how Bucks fans immortalized the moment.
You can contact JR Radcliffe at (262) 361-9141 or jradcliffe@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter at @JRRadcliffe.
