With Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves sidelined, the spotlight quickly shifted to Marcus Smart, and the veteran guard delivered in a big way for the Los Angeles Lakers.
In Game 1 against the Houston Rockets, Smart filled the stat sheet and, more importantly, brought the composure and toughness needed in a playoff environment. But for him, the defining moment wasn’t a stat, it was how the team handled adversity.
“Just our ability to stay poised,” Smart said after the win. “You’re playing against a really good team out there who does a really good job of mucking up the game, seeing who’s the toughest team. It got a little chippy out there, a couple technicals called. And I think for this team to be able to stay as poised as we did, I think that was the part for me that really stood out and was like OK, I think we’re ready. It’s gonna be a good one and as long as we can continue to do that, we’ll be in good shape.”
That poise didn’t come easily. After a strong start, the Lakers let momentum slip in the second quarter, the kind of stretch that has hurt them in the past. But instead of folding, they responded with control and execution, flipping the game in the third quarter.
Smart’s confidence in the group is rooted in something deeper than just one performance. it’s about resilience, something he’s seen firsthand before.
“Resiliency. The 2018 team, we were resilient,” Smart said, referencing his run with the Boston Celtics. “No matter who we had on the floor, we were gonna make sure to go out and give everything that we had. We’re in the same scenario here, our two best players get hurt, and we gotta show we’re resilient, especially against a team that’s gonna come out and make you prove it. I think that right there is the equivalent of that ’18 season that I had and the ability to be able to bounce back under this adversity that we’re going through. That’s what makes this team dangerous.”
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