Celtics Talk: Eddie House reacts to incident between Smart, Curry

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The Boston Celtics earned an impressive 110-88 win over the Golden State Warriors on the road Wednesday night. 

But the main storyline from the game involves an incident that happened in the second quarter.

Celtics guard Marcus Smart dove for a loose ball and was able to save possession for his team. Warriors guard Stephen Curry also hit the floor, but he arrived there after Smart and got his foot tangled up with the Celtics' guard. 

C's fans will appreciate Draymond's reaction to Smart-Steph incident

Smart did nothing wrong, but Warriors fans and head coach Steve Kerr were upset with the play. Curry suffered an injury and reportedly is out indefinitely, but could return for the start of the playoffs in April. 

In the latest episode of NBC Sports Boston's Celtics Talk Podcast, former C's guard and 2008 NBA champion Eddie House gave his take on the play involving Smart and Curry.

 Celtics Talk Podcast: The only thing 'dangerous' about Marcus Smart is his defense | Listen & subscribe | Watch on YouTube

"I feel the same way I felt (Wednesday). The fact of the matter is (Smart) got on the floor first," House explained. "If there's a loose ball, you've got to get your body on the ground to get after it. If you don't, things can happen to you. It's not somebody maliciously trying to take out your legs.

"We've seen it before where someone has gone to the floor and it looks like someone went after a player's legs -- that play from Marcus Smart did not look like that at all. It didn't resemble that in any way. He went for the ball. He was first to the ball -- exactly what you want if you're a coach, or a teammate.

"It's exactly what you want if you're Marcus Smart. I want to be first to the ball, that's why I'm going to the ground. Steph's foot/ankle was collateral damage. What can you do? As a competitor, I'm trying to win. Sometimes guys get injured in the midst of guys competing.

"Smart shouldn't feel any kind of way. The Celtics shouldn't feel any kind of way. Actually, everyone is making this such a huge deal because it is Steph who got hurt. If that's Damion Lee, would we be having this same conversation? Probably not."

Most of the headlines from this Celtics-Warriors matchup feature Smart's play and/or Curry's injury. What's not getting talked about, as a result, is the Celtics gave another awesome defensive performance against one of the highest-scoring teams in the league.

"On top of that, it's taking way from the great job the Celtics did defensively last night. Even before Steph went out, he was struggling," House said. "He hit his first shot, and after that he was struggling getting clean, good looks at the basket. Klay Thompson struggled getting shots.

"I thought the Celtics did such a great job defensively that this one incident where -- it shouldn't even be a situation or anything that we're talking about -- took away from a really good, well-coached team, a team that was engaged defensively and also kind of beat Golden State at its own game -- moving the ball. When you play like that at both ends of the floor, it tends to lead to victories. But it's unfortunate their play overall has been overshadowed by this one play."

Also in this episode: Who’s more important to the Celtics defense this season, Marcus Smart or Robert Williams? Should either player be seriously in the running for Defensive Player of the Year? And much more!

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