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"&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;BROOKLYN \u2013 In the thick of a tight playoff race and with bodies succumbing to injury by the day, Boston couldn't afford to lose any more players. Marcus Smart's one-game suspension for a low blow to Spurs forward Matt Bonner made that reality all the more frustrating.\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Smart\u2014who sat out the Celtics 105-97 loss to Detroit on Sunday\u2014was contrite before Boston\u2019s game against the Nets on Monday night.&amp;nbsp;\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;\u201CIt\u2019s been crazy, trying to prepare for tonight\u2019s game knowing we should have won the game last night,\u201D Smart said. \u201CIt\u2019s been a little up and down for me.\u201D\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Smart said he has reviewed the play and while he maintains it was not intentional, he can see why the NBA issued the suspension.\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;\u201CI looked at it, I can definitely see [the decision],\u201D Smart said. \u201CI can definitely see how the decision was made. I got to live with it. Looking at the film, it does look a little intentional. But like I said before, that\u2019s not who I am. I\u2019m not a dirty player. But looking at the film, I can see where that comes into play. The NBA made the right decision with the one-game suspension.\u201D\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;On Sunday, Celtics coach Brad Stevens said he hoped Smart had learned something from the suspension.\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;\"Hopefully it's an isolated incident and we move on from it,\u201D&amp;nbsp;Stevens said. \"But we said it the other night: I felt like, after watching it again before I talked to the media, and having seen it, it was clearly an unacceptable play. As I said the other night, it's as simple as that.\u201D\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Smart agreed with a reporter when asked if he needed to find a balance between playing hard and crossing the line with his physicality.\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;\u201CI think everyone does,\u201D Smart said. \u201CYou don\u2019t find too many players in this league that still play that hard. It\u2019s something I take pride in, playing hard. In the flow of games, things happen. That\u2019s just the way it is.\u201D\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Smart, who was ejected from a game against Orlando earlier this month for throwing an elbow at Magic guard&amp;nbsp;Elfrid&amp;nbsp;Payton, says he is not concerned about developing a reputation as a dirty player.\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;\u201CNot at all,\u201D Smart said. \u201CI know I\u2019m not. My coach and my team know I\u2019m not a dirty player. I\u2019m a physical player, no doubt about that. But a dirty one, that\u2019s not in my reputation.\u201D\r\n&lt;/p&gt;"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.si.com/nba/2015/03/23/marcus-smart-returns-suspension-boston-celtics>