The Los Angeles Lakers remain in the thick of the Western Conference standings race, with players like Marcus Smart helping out in bigger roles.
Smart has started in place of Austin Reaves and he’s helped reinvigorate a defense that had slipped to one of the worst in the league. Aside from his defensive effort, the veteran also serves as a capable ball-handler to help out Luka Doncic and LeBron James.
Although Los Angeles has steadied itself a bit, the team still experiences lulls that can be frustrating to watch at times.
However, Smart takes the ups and downs in stride and tries his best to stay even-keeled, via Mark Medina of Essentially Sports:
“That’s part of it. That’s part of the game and part of life that we live and the sport that we play. That’s no different than living life. There are going to be ups and downs. So it’s just about making sure that we don’t get too high on the highs or too low on the lows.”
As far as the direction the Lakers appear to be heading in, Smart likes where they’re at and believes things are starting to click:
“It’s pretty comfortable. We know we have some things to work on. We’re still working. But we’re starting to get it. There are times that it doesn’t look great. But we’re starting to get it. You’re starting to see that we are picking up on it.”
Smart also acknowledged that in order to continue improving the players need to continue developing their chemistry:
“For us, it’s about personnel. We got a lot of guys out here figuring it out and being able to understand the chemistry with certain guys. It’s about knowing what they like to do on both ends. It’s not just about offense. It’s also about defense. It’s about knowing guys’ strengths and weaknesses, and trying to put them in the right position to help the team and help them succeed as well.”
Veteran players like Smart are experienced enough to know chemistry takes time, though he also believes that he and the other older players have certainly helped close out games.
While the purple and gold appear to be trending up, the Lakers’ schedule gets far tougher in the coming months so it’ll be interesting to see how they respond.
LeBron James happy to have Marcus Smart on Lakers
LeBron James spent years battling against Smart in the Eastern Conference, but the two now find themselves as teammates in Los Angeles. Suffice to say, but James admitted he’s happy to have Smart on the Lakers instead of playing against him.
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