{"id":119802,"date":"2026-05-05T05:37:38","date_gmt":"2026-05-05T05:37:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/basketball.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/05\/marcus-smart-calls-out-nbas-toughest-player-to-cover\/"},"modified":"2026-05-05T05:37:38","modified_gmt":"2026-05-05T05:37:38","slug":"marcus-smart-calls-out-nbas-toughest-player-to-cover","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/basketball.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/05\/marcus-smart-calls-out-nbas-toughest-player-to-cover\/","title":{"rendered":"Marcus Smart Calls Out NBA\u2019s Toughest Player to Cover"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>Marcus Smart has built his reputation on defense, taking on the league\u2019s elite night after night. But heading into the Los Angeles Lakers\u2019 second-round matchup with the Oklahoma City Thunder, even he admits there\u2019s one player who stands above the rest.<\/p>\n<p>That player? Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNumber one,\u201d he <a href=\"https:\/\/lakersnation.com\/marcus-smart-shai-gilgeous-alexander-is-toughest-player-to-defend\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">said<\/a> of Gilgeous-Alexander. \u201cI think we all know that. He does a really good job of getting to the free throw line and he\u2019s mastered it. That\u2019s gonna be a challenge for me. Not just me, but everybody on this team, just making sure we stay out of foul trouble and keep him off the line as much as possible. And then just continue to show your hands. It\u2019s tough, but it can be done. It\u2019s just gonna take a lot of effort from everybody and we gotta stay together.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The reigning MVP has turned himself into one of the most complete offensive players in the game, and Smart knows slowing him down won\u2019t come from any one defender alone.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou just go out there and play,\u201d Smart added. \u201cWhen you\u2019ve got two competitors like that, one on the offensive side and one of the defensive side, it definitely makes for a great matchup. But yeah, there\u2019s nothing you really can do. Just got out there and look at the film and try to give up one thing for two things, nothing everything that he\u2019s gonna get, you\u2019re not gonna stop it all. But just do you best to make every bucket and every possession for him as tough as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Part of the challenge lies in SGA\u2019s versatility.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe\u2019s an MVP, right? We know it. He\u2019s been doing this for a while now. We know what he\u2019s capable of and it makes his very dangerous to be that type of three-level scorer,\u201d Smart said. \u201cIt definitely brings its own challenges but like I said, you\u2019re not gonna be able to win every battle, you\u2019re not gonna stop everything or slow everything down. You gotta be willing to give up something and you gotta pick your poison.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/foreverbet.com\/en-us\/sportsbook?utm_source=basketballforever&amp;utm_medium=sitearticle&amp;utm_ca%5B%E2%80%A6%5Dn=basketballforever500ph&amp;utm_term=SmartGilgeous-AlexanderDefense&amp;lid=j0ytdho0wlyd\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-69110\" src=\"https:\/\/basketballforever.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/ForeverBet-BF-promotional-banner-3.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"730\" height=\"175\"\/><\/noscript><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>READ MORE: <a href=\"https:\/\/basketballforever.com\/2026\/05\/03\/luka-doncic-comeback-timeline-remains-unclear-as-lakers-make-second-round\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Luka Doncic Comeback Timeline Remains Unclear as Lakers Make Second Round<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/basketballforever.com\/2026\/05\/04\/marcus-smart-calls-out-nbas-toughest-player-to-cover\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Marcus Smart has built his reputation on defense, taking on the league\u2019s elite night after night. But heading into the Los Angeles Lakers\u2019 second-round matchup with the Oklahoma City Thunder, even he admits there\u2019s one player who stands above the rest. That player? Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. \u201cNumber one,\u201d he said of Gilgeous-Alexander. \u201cI think we all [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":119803,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[7],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/basketball.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119802"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/basketball.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/basketball.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/basketball.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/basketball.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=119802"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/basketball.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119802\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/basketball.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/119803"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/basketball.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=119802"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/basketball.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=119802"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/basketball.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=119802"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}