Marcus Smart had seen enough from the Grizzlies on Sunday night.
With his team down double digits to the Timberwolves in the fourth quarter, Smart took it upon himself to deliver a stern message during a timeout. The fiery guard ripped into his teammates in an NSFW rant in which he yelled, “This is f—--- embarrassing.”
The Grizzlies seemed to heed Smart’s words and went on an 11—3 run after his tongue-lashing, as Timberwolves radio announcer Alan Horton noted. But it wasn’t enough to prevent Memphis (3–13) from losing its fourth straight game, 119–97, in a season that is quickly going south.
marcus smart just gave the grizzlies bench one of the most passionate speeches i’ve ever seen a player give his team. said “this is f*cking embarrassing” several times, talked about how fans are paying to come watch them and they’re not even trying pic.twitter.com/sxv4pL3jis
— Molly Morrison (@mollyhannahm) November 27, 2023
During last timeout Marcus Smart screaming at his teammates “it’s embarrassing, it’s embarrassing” among other things. pic.twitter.com/fiKziJYOmG
— Alan Horton (@WolvesRadio) November 27, 2023
Smart mentioned the paying public in his rant, saying that the Grizzlies are letting down their fans with their underwhelming effort, evidenced by their 0—8 home record. After making the playoffs in each of his nine seasons with the Celtics, Smart clearly became accustomed to winning—and it appears as if the Grizzlies’ lack of success already is taking a toll on him.