Marcus Smart didn’t try to oversell the moment. He broke it down the only way he knows how—direct, physical, and rooted in reality.
Ahead of Game 1 against the Oklahoma City Thunder, the Lakers guard made one thing clear about defending Shai Gilgeous-Alexander: “Number one, I think we all know that. He does a really good job of getting to the free throw line. He’s mastered it.”
Smart didn’t frame it as a one-man assignment either. “That’s going to be a challenge for me, not just me but everybody on the team, making sure we stay out of foul trouble and keep them off the line as much as possible.”
The veteran understands what the numbers already show. Gilgeous-Alexander is averaging 33.8 points and over 12 free throw attempts per game this postseason, and Smart isn’t pretending there’s a clean solution.
“You just go out there and play,” he said. “There’s nothing you really can do. Just got to go out there, look at the film, and try to give up one thing for two things.”
That trade-off defines the matchup. “He’s going to get his. You’re not going to stop it all, but you want to do your best to make every bucket and every possession for him as tough as possible.”
Smart called it what it is. “He’s an MVP. We know it. He’s been doing this for a while now.”
The Thunder’s structure adds another layer. They don’t foul much—or at least don’t get called for it—and that forces discipline.
“With a team like that, whether they foul or not, it’s not getting called,” Smart said. “So there’s nothing you can do. You got to control what you can control.”
That theme—control—came up repeatedly. “We’re not perfect. We’re human. We let our emotions sometimes get the best of us,” he added. “If it’s not getting called, you got to figure out how to adjust and play through it.”
The Lakers have already seen what happens when they don’t. Oklahoma City swept the regular-season series, including multiple blowouts.
“Those two losses, we got our ass kicked for real,” Smart said. “From there we had to build… we started to kind of rise in the right direction.”
That growth will be tested without Luka Doncic, who remains out with a hamstring strain. Smart didn’t frame that as a weakness.
“As much as we feel bad and you would think it hurts us not having him, it actually helps because it forces guys to elevate their game.”
Internally, that responsibility has strengthened connections—especially with Deandre Ayton.
“We sit by each other in the locker room… we’ve had a lot of discussions over the regular season and now the postseason,” Smart said. “We’re both here… just show what we still can do.”
He rejected the idea of being a mentor figure. “No, I’m not his big brother. But I’m somebody that he respects.”
That respect comes from shared work. “I’m not just preaching. I’m out there with him in the midst of it, battling with him.”
Game 1 won’t be about stopping everything. Smart made that clear.
“You’re not going to win every battle. You’re not going to stop everything. You’re not going to slow everything down,” he said. “You got to be willing to give up on something and pick your poison.”
