Several members of the Lakers contributed in key moments down the stretch during Saturday’s thrilling overtime victory over Denver, writes Dave McMenamin of ESPN. Austin Reaves was at the foul line with Los Angeles down three and 5.2 seconds remaining, and after making the first free throw, he intentionally missed the second, grabbed the offensive rebound, and converted a floater to send the game to an extra period.
Reaves’ heroics set the stage for Luka Doncic, who converted a step-back jumper to put the Lakers up two with a half-second remaining. The star guard then blocked Tim Hardaway Jr.‘s three-pointer to seal the win, McMenamin notes.
“Just a big-time shot by a f—ing generational player,” LeBron James said of Doncic. “He’s just a big-time player, man. … We wanted the last shot. We wanted to put the ball in our guy’s hands. … It’s going to be just the first of many game winners like that for him in a Lakers uniform.”
According to McMenamin, head coach JJ Redick told the Lakers he wanted them to treat the game like it was a playoff matchup. He was pleased with the team’s effort after the game.
“Is ‘coalesce’ a word? Is that the right word? For coming together?” Redick asked. “I think it feels like we’re coalescing right now in a really nice way. Still got a long way to go, still got a long way to go, but certainly optimistic with how we handled this stretch of games. … It’s big time.”
We have more on the Lakers:
- Including Monday’s victory over Houston, Los Angeles has now won six straight games. As Law Murray writes for The Athletic, the Lakers have beaten three potential playoff opponents (the Wolves, Nuggets and Rockets) over that span and have secured the regular season edge over both Minnesota and Denver. The Lakers spent most of the first half of the season looking pretty underwhelming despite having a solid record, Murray states, but they’re hitting their stride at the right time and are showing they should at least be considered a tough playoff matchup, with Doncic, Reaves, James, Marcus Smart and Deandre Ayton all making big plays in crunch time.
- Prior to Monday’s game, Redick discussed the challenges Doncic, Reaves and James have faced trying to find a rhythm when they’re sharing the court together, largely due to injuries to James and Reaves, per Benjamin Royer of The Southern California News Group (Twitter video link). Redick acknowledged James’ current role isn’t one he’s ever played before. “The best thing for our team is (LeBron) being the third-highest-used player,” Redick said in part.
- In a feature story for ESPN, McMenamin details how Smart nearly lost his basketball career by punching a framed photo in his hotel room after missing a potential game-winning three against the Lakers as a member of the Celtics in January 2018. He had a five-inch piece of glass in his hand and said he was rushed to the ER and passed out from blood loss. “The doctor looked at me in my eye and told me, ‘I don’t know how you still have use of your right hand,’” Smart said. “‘You should honestly be thanking God every day.’ … They said it laid perfectly in between every tendon in my hand without damaging anything. And they had to leave the extra piece in, because they said it will cause more damage if we go get it out.” Smart required 20 stitches and missed 11 games, but the glass stuck in his hand continued to bother him years later, he told McMenamin. “For six years after the incident with the glass, I still had glass in my hand and I played with it,” Smart said. “And there would be times where because of that, my hand would go numb. A lot of times, a lot of games, I couldn’t control it. I had to play and there were a lot of times when I’m shooting the ball and just, I had no feeling in the arm, the hand.”
- Smart was determined to turn his career around after a couple of injury-plagued season-and-a-half in Memphis and a short stint with Washington to end 2024/25, McMenamin writes, and the Lakers had a major need for a strong point-of-attack defender who could slow down top perimeter scorers. Smart had 21 points and five steals on Saturday and helped limit Jamal Murray to five points on 1-of-14 shooting in 36 minutes. “He competes every night,” Reaves told ESPN. “It’s not always pretty, but his competitive level’s going to be at an all-time high every single night. And you need guys like that. I think he’s the one that sets the example for us on the court to go out there and play as hard as we possibly can, because you know he’s going to do that. When he’s doing that, every single night flying around, it makes you be accountable to the effort that you bring.”
Nice win. They will be knocked out in R1 in any case.
What if they won’t?
MEMO TO DAVE McMENAMIN…MEMO TO DAVE McMENAMIN:
The Denver Nuggets have not been the best team of the Western Conference for approximately TWO full seasons now. The Lakers’ real shot to “make a statement” against the Nuggets already passed, with a whimper, quite some time ago – the 2024 Western Conference First Round, Best of 7. What Laker players, reps, writers, and fans – those mostly of the delusional variety – are getting excited about essentially boils down to the fact the Lakers are clearly no longer a perennial third-tier play-in level team, thanks in part to Brawny Senior’s role justifiably diminishing more and more. Laker players, reps, and their delusional writers (McMenamin) and fans are celebrating the Lakers POTENTIALLY now being the best SECOND TIER team of the Western Conference. Movin’ on up for sure, though.Take the next big step when BS is shown the door.
Do you log into this account specifically for Lakers write ups? And then log into your other one to like the comment?
Pretty incredible story on Marcus Smart. Wow I’d never heard that. Amazing !!!!
He’s a dirty player. A few good games with the Lakers doesn’t change that.
I agree he’s a dirty player. But that’s not at all what I was referencing.
Playing NBA basketball with glass in his hand for six years is a pretty incredible story. A few opinions on his style of play doesn’t change that.
I remember when he punched that wall. Didn’t know it was so bad. Happy Marcus has found a spot. Some of us loved him on the Celtics for many years. Argued against the naysayers. I always thought he could shot threes but others disagreed. Looks like the Lakers could be our opponent in the Finals.
I’ve always liked him too, but hated going against him. Always thought Curry was going to get hurt playing against Marcus Smart.
He’s one of those guys that would go for the legs while going for the loose ball, if you know what I mean. Almost like describing a guy sliding into second base and taking out the fielder and nowhere near the bag in the old days.
That was Marcus Smart.
Made me cringe when he would roll onto a guy while reaching for the ball and usually winding up with it by the way as the other guy writhed in pain.
Curry owned him in the finals. Smart couldn’t guard him.
Even in the regular season, he didn’t give Curry that much problem.
You forgot to mention his flopping. One of the biggest floppers in the game.
Smart is overrated.
I think the thing that got me with Marcus Smart was watching a video maybe five years ago of him doing 10 different trick shots.
You would’ve thought he was a member of the Harlem Globetrotters in how easy he made these things look to accomplish.
It definitely helped me realize that even a guy not known as an offensive player in the NBA was still head and shoulders above any other person as far as shot making skills were concerned.
The video is probably still out there and it’s just mind blowing the skill that Marcus Smart has with the basketball.
Last night was the best defense I’ve seen them play on the road in the Lebron/Luka era. Everyone was engaged, aggressively doubled KD and made others made a read or play. Houston looked like they never seen 4th quarter defense. Throwback 90’s style defense played by LA last night. Tremendous effort and execution from them last night. Even though not a fan of the Lakers, that was fun watching a team actually put their throat down on a team in the 4th defensively.
Also, will be a round 1 exit. If you double KD like Lakers did last night, nobody else made any shots and looked nervous for their moment.
Team is not ready yet.
And KD as the de facto PG had 7 TOs and said he wants to play more off ball in the postgame interview.
The FO blew it by not making a move for a PG at the deadline/buyout .
Tre Jones was available if they wanted a ball handler.