NBA Rumors 2018: Greg Monroe And Terry Rozer Must Step Up; Marcus Smart Going To Be Missed

When teams are evenly matched, sometimes the deciding factor can be bench depth. A team like the Boston Celtics looks like a true title contender when Kyrie Irving and its other stars perform well, but the other NBA teams headed to the playoffs are no pushovers either.

The NBA season still has a number of regular-season games, with a number of teams already shoo-ins to the playoffs. That does not mean those teams will not play hard.

Boston just fought the Washington Wizards in a nail-biting double-overtime game which the Wizards won. If a regular season game can be this close, how much more intense would playoff games be?

Washington won by one point with superstar point-guard John Wall still not in the line-up. What is self-evident here except for the Wizards bench rising to the occasion with 41 points?

The Celtics bench actually managed more with 42 points but that was to be expected in a game that saw the absences of Irving and Al Horford.

That Celtics bench - or what remains of it - suffered a great setback after it was reported that Daniel Theis will have season-ending knee surgery. The bigger news is that reliable guard Marcus Smart is still hurting from an injured right thumb.

The thumb was injured in a Celtics game against the Indiana Pacers. Fans probably breathed a sigh of relief when Smart returned to the game with his thumb taped, but it was later revealed that a tendon was torn and there was an uncertainty of his return, NESN.com reported.

Smart had also previously been in the news for hurting himself after punching a picture frame at a hotel, for which he apologized.

It may sound doubtful that the Celtics would need a player who had little sense to care for himself, as shown by that episode of hand-laceration, but Smart is both a shooter and a facilitator who is fun to watch as he lobs those passes to Horford for an easy two points in the paint.

With Smart not on that bench, guys like Greg Monroe and Terry Rozier must step up. The Celtics need that bench to be a force in the East.