{"id":119854,"date":"2026-05-05T17:20:15","date_gmt":"2026-05-05T17:20:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/basketball.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/05\/marcus-smart-sends-warning-before-game-1-vs-thunder-talkbasket-net\/"},"modified":"2026-05-05T17:20:15","modified_gmt":"2026-05-05T17:20:15","slug":"marcus-smart-sends-warning-before-game-1-vs-thunder-talkbasket-net","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/basketball.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/05\/marcus-smart-sends-warning-before-game-1-vs-thunder-talkbasket-net\/","title":{"rendered":"Marcus Smart sends warning before Game 1 vs Thunder &#8211; TalkBasket.net"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div>\n<div class=\"wpb_video_wrapper\"><noscript><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Lakers Practice Interview 2025-26 Season: Coach JJ Redick, Marcus Smart, DeAndre Ayton\" width=\"696\" height=\"392\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/KSB6vaqPPmk?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/noscript><\/div>\n<p>Marcus Smart didn\u2019t try to oversell the moment. He broke it down the only way he knows how\u2014direct, physical, and rooted in reality.<\/p>\n<p>Ahead of Game 1 against the Oklahoma City Thunder, the Lakers guard made one thing clear about defending Shai Gilgeous-Alexander: \u201cNumber one, I think we all know that. He does a really good job of getting to the free throw line. He\u2019s mastered it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Smart didn\u2019t frame it as a one-man assignment either. \u201cThat\u2019s 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.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>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\u2019t pretending there\u2019s a clean solution.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou just go out there and play,\u201d he said. \u201cThere\u2019s 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.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>That trade-off defines the matchup. \u201cHe\u2019s going to get his. You\u2019re 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.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Smart called it what it is. \u201cHe\u2019s an MVP. We know it. He\u2019s been doing this for a while now.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Thunder\u2019s structure adds another layer. They don\u2019t foul much\u2014or at least don\u2019t get called for it\u2014and that forces discipline.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWith a team like that, whether they foul or not, it\u2019s not getting called,\u201d Smart said. \u201cSo there\u2019s nothing you can do. You got to control what you can control.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>That theme\u2014control\u2014came up repeatedly. \u201cWe\u2019re not perfect. We\u2019re human. We let our emotions sometimes get the best of us,\u201d he added. \u201cIf it\u2019s not getting called, you got to figure out how to adjust and play through it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Lakers have already seen what happens when they don\u2019t. Oklahoma City swept the regular-season series, including multiple blowouts.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThose two losses, we got our ass kicked for real,\u201d Smart said. \u201cFrom there we had to build\u2026 we started to kind of rise in the right direction.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>That growth will be tested without Luka Doncic, who <a href=\"https:\/\/www.talkbasket.net\/217682-lakers-vs-thunder-game-1-injury-report-doncic-williams-listed\" type=\"post\" id=\"217682\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">remains out with a hamstring strain<\/a>. Smart didn\u2019t frame that as a weakness.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAs 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.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Internally, that responsibility has strengthened connections\u2014especially with Deandre Ayton.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe sit by each other in the locker room\u2026 we\u2019ve had a lot of discussions over the regular season and now the postseason,\u201d Smart said. \u201cWe\u2019re both here\u2026 just show what we still can do.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He rejected the idea of being a mentor figure. \u201cNo, I\u2019m not his big brother. But I\u2019m somebody that he respects.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>That respect comes from shared work. \u201cI\u2019m not just preaching. I\u2019m out there with him in the midst of it, battling with him.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Game 1 won\u2019t be about stopping everything. Smart made that clear.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou\u2019re not going to win every battle. You\u2019re not going to stop everything. You\u2019re not going to slow everything down,\u201d he said. \u201cYou got to be willing to give up on something and pick your poison.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.talkbasket.net\/217710-marcus-smart-sends-warning-before-game-1-vs-thunder\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Marcus Smart didn\u2019t try to oversell the moment. He broke it down the only way he knows how\u2014direct, 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: \u201cNumber one, I think we all know that. He does a really [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":119855,"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\/119854"}],"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=119854"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/basketball.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119854\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/basketball.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/119855"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/basketball.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=119854"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/basketball.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=119854"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/basketball.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=119854"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}