The Los Angeles Lakers were unable to complete the sweep of the Houston Rockets in their first round playoff series, dropping Game 4 in blowout fashion. There were a number of issues that hurt the Lakers, but one of the biggest was their turnovers.
The Lakers committed 23 turnovers on the night, leading to 30 Rockets points which fueled a Houston offense that has struggled throughout the series. And veteran guard Marcus Smart believes the Lakers’ miscues were mental mistakes and not the cause of physical fatigue.
“A majority of them were mental. We were dropping passes, myself included,” Smart said after the loss. “I was throwing passes to guys’ legs, normal passes that we make on a regular basis. But it’s something we gotta clean up. We know it and understand it. It’s not gonna get easier, we understand that. But we’ve played this team for four games now and the first three we did very well. So we understand it, just gotta continue to stay poised and get through it.”
LeBron James, Luke Kennard and Rui Hachimura had all been averaging around 40 minutes in the first three games while Smart was above 35, so some physical fatigue would be understandable. And with just one night off after a high-intensity overtime contest in Game 3 it would make sense. But Smart insists that the Lakers just got lackadaisical and will need to lock back in when the series goes back to L.A.
“Just a little lackadaisical from us,” Smart added. “Shots weren’t falling early, when we got to the rim, a lot of contact and weren’t getting calls. So it played a part, but we’ll be alright, it’s part of it. We’ve been playing our asses off for the last 3-4 games so we understand they came out and did their jobs. So just bring it back to L.A. and we’ll see them there.”
This series is not over and the Lakers can not afford to let the Rockets gain any more confidence. Game 5 is the biggest game of the season and Smart and the rest of this team must play like it or else this series will suddenly get far more interesting.
Marcus Smart thinks trash talk from Rockets was ‘hilarious’
The Lakers and Rockets also exchanged some words before leaving the court at the end of Game 4 with both teams needing to be separated after a contest that saw many technical fouls and ejections. But Smart felt all the talking coming from the Rockets was simply hilarious.
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