Marcus Smart threw down this huge dunk in transition against Kansas State today, but did it cost his team the game?
As you can see in the video, Smart earned himself a technical foul with the dunk, hanging on the rim and slapping the back board. I don’t love that call -- it’s really, really hard to ask a player to control his emotions in a situation like that -- but those rules are pretty much set in stone. Slap the back board after a dunk, and you’re going to be getting T’d up.
Here’s the thing: this was Smart’s fourth foul. He sat out for the next eight minutes. He was on the bench as Oklahoma State’s four point lead turned into a deficit. No. 6 Oklahoma State ended up losing 74-71.
Would it have been any different with Smart on the floor? Who knows, but generally speaking, the Pokes are better with Smart on the floor than Smart sitting on the bench in foul trouble.