Marcus Smart is no stranger to pivotal basketball games given his resume of playoff performances, so of course he was ready to answer the bell when the Denver Nuggets came to visit the Los Angeles Lakers.
The Lakers and Nuggets entered their final 2025-26 regular season matchup tied one game apiece, so the winner would own the tiebreaker for seeding purposes. The game was a tale of two halves as Los Angeles raced out to a large lead before Denver responded in the second half and took control.
Austin Reaves managed to force the game into overtime with a perfectly-executed missed free throw and floater, while Luka Doncic iced the Nuggets with a game-winning jumper. It was the Lakers’ best win of the season and the perfect illustration of what the team can look like when its firing on all cylinders.
Smart was pivotal in the win as he recorded 21 points, three rebounds, two assists, five steals and a block. After the win, Smart acknowledged that the game against Denver resembled what the postseason looks like.
“These games are playoff-type games.”
Smart has the playoff experience to back up his claim as it takes an entire team effort to beat an opponent like the Nuggets. While it was great to see Los Angeles get hot early from the field, it was arguably more encouraging to see them fight back and retake the lead late. And that included some big buckets from Smart, who spoke about his teammates putting faith in him.
“It felt good, man. It felt good for my teammates to believe in me,” Smart said. “Especially after playing this team a couple of weeks ago, having some looks to put us up and they’re not falling. It could have easily put us in a trap of like, not again, and I wouldn’t have blamed Luka and those guys for not trusting me. But it speaks to our team, speaks to me, speaks to those guys, how willing they are to trust each other.”
There have been too many instances of the group taking plays off or seemingly giving up after going down big, but the past few weeks have been a different story. With no margin for error to stake their claim atop the standings, Los Angeles and Smart have finally kicked things into high gear and the results have been overwhelmingly positive.
There is still a lot of work to be done for the Lakers to establish themselves as legitimate contenders, but their win against the Nuggets is something they can build on. The upcoming slate of games should feature more playoff-like atmospheres, so it’ll be interesting to see if Los Angeles can keep their high level of play up.
Austin Reaves praises Marcus Smart and Jaxson Hayes for their contagious energy
Marcus Smart is known for bringing it on both ends of the floor and that’s helped the Lakers win games this season. Jaxson Hayes has also been a positive influence with his effort off the bench, so Austin Reaves made sure to praise him and Smart for their contagious energy.
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