With ‘Mahcus’ making his return, do you miss him on the Celtics?

One of the more polarizing Boston athletes of recent memory makes his on-court return to the TD Garden this weekend.

Marcus Smart and the Memphis Grizzlies roll into Beantown tomorrow night for the second night of a back-to-back which features Giannis and the Bucks on the front end of it tonight.

Smart was as beloved as any Celtic by a big portion of the fanbase, while his play left another large and very vocal chunk of the Celtics fans vexed with his on-court decision making at times.

See the late Tommy Heinsohn's burning love for the guy as the former, and our own Ernie Clark as a voice representing the latter.

After being dealt to Memphis while Brad Stevens retooled the Celtics into a championship roster during the 2023 off-season, Smart had a difficult debut season last year with the Grizzlies.

He played in just 20 games before missing the rest of the season due to injury, including the Grizzlies' lone trip to Boston last December. He was in attendance and received a raucous ovation from the Garden crowd, plus a highlight video from the team, but tomorrow night will be his first time stepping back on the parquet for game action.

This year hasn't been much easier for Smart, who has played just 13 games (5 starts) while averaging 21.5 minutes of the Memphis bench most nights. Though, he did score a team-high 18 points in their win over Sacramento last night.

It was a sad day for many when Marcus was shipped out of town while others rejoiced. One thing there's no arguing with, however, is that Boston is an entirely more efficient and well-oiled machine with Holiday, White, Tatum, and Brown all sharing ball-handling duties than it every was the ball in Marcus's hand, who looked to jack at any time.