Two 3s. Two steals. Two flops. Two middle fingers.

The Celtics got the full Marcus Smart experience on Monday night in Houston and — if we’re being honest — it made us a bit nostalgic.

Sure, it was a lot more fun when the uniforms were flipped back in December 2017. That night, Smart busted out his entire bag of Smart tricks, including baiting James Harden into a pair of offensive foul calls as the Celtics improbably rallied to take down the Rockets at TD Garden.

Being on the other side of Smart’s chaos-inducing playbook is decidedly less endearing.

Smart left his fingerprints all over Houston’s late-game takeover. It started in the final minutes of the third quarter when Smart sold a shove from former teammate Jayson Tatum, earning Tatum his fourth foul and sending him to the bench with 1:39 to play in the frame.

The Celtics were down just five at that point, but Boston trailed by 16 by the time Tatum returned to the floor with 7:02 to play in the final quarter.

Smart hit 3-pointers on consecutive trips early in the fourth frame to help build that lead. Then, somewhat inexplicably, he threw his middle fingers in the air running back up the court. He would later suggest to reporters in Houston that it was "pent-up" emotions and some feedback to a Boston bench that had been previously vocal about his shot selection.

Before that, he 1) Tried to encourage referees to give Jayson Tatum a first-half technical as he vented about a whistle, 2) Nearly drew a Payton Pritchard charge before the play was overturned on video review, and 3) Did one of his familiar kip-ups to celebrate after nearly drawing that charge on Pritchard.

That's serious nostalgia for everyone who watched Smart in his nine seasons with Boston from 2014 to 2023. You might not always miss his shot selection, but no amount of analytics could quantify the Smart chaos quotient.

Every good team needs an agitator. The type of player that gets under your skin and never lets you get too comfortable. After tough stops in Memphis, Washington, and even with the Los Angeles Lakers, it’s gotta be refreshing for Smart to be back in a situation where he can aid winning with his antics.

This was only the third game Smart had played against Boston, and the other two were otherwise forgettable, with Smart tallying three points in 41 minutes during games with Memphis and Los Angeles.

But the Celtics got a reminder of Smart and his penchant for winning plays on Monday night. To quote the great modern philosopher Ric Flair, “You don’t have to like me, but you’ll never forget me.”