Dennis Smith Jr had to briefly leave Sunday night’s game against the Los Angeles Clippers after having his tooth knocked out, and the Dallas Mavericks point guard wanted to make sure it got put back into place as quickly as possible.
Smith, who had a key block and iced the win for Dallas with two late-game free throws, lost a tooth while fighting for a loose ball with Patrick Beverley.
Patrick Beverley knocked out one of Dennis Smith Jr.'s teeth pic.twitter.com/PzaiGNpAXO
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) December 3, 2018
He joked with reporters after the game that the first thing he thought about when he lost his tooth was looking silly on social media.
.@Dennis1SmithJr wasn't going to be missing a tooth in front of the cameras pic.twitter.com/W5dSyGytzu
— NBA on ESPN (@ESPNNBA) December 3, 2018
more Dennis: "I got my tooth knocked out, but I came back in lookin' pretty as a girl. so I'm aight."
— Tim Cato (@tim_cato) December 3, 2018
Smith finished with nine points and played a huge role after he returned, so you have to admire the toughness. He’s not the first basketball player to lose a piece of his smile during a game and have a good sense of humor about it.
