{"id":466770,"date":"2025-12-11T12:44:13","date_gmt":"2025-12-11T12:44:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/466770\/"},"modified":"2025-12-11T12:44:13","modified_gmt":"2025-12-11T12:44:13","slug":"lakers-takeaways-marcus-smart-a-bright-spot-as-lakers-eliminated-from-nba-cup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/466770\/","title":{"rendered":"Lakers takeaways: Marcus Smart a bright spot as Lakers eliminated from NBA Cup"},"content":{"rendered":"

LeBron James<\/a>\u2019 emphatic one-handed dunk brought the crowd at Crypto.com<\/a> Arena to its feet. It left Luke Kornet shrinking under James\u2019 intense glare and scream. It will live on in the soon-to-be 41-year-old\u2019s highlight reel, but for this night, James wanted it to fade into the background.<\/p>\n

Because even though the moment left his teammates jumping on the bench and gasping for air, it did nothing to stave off a Lakers loss.<\/p>\n

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\u201cIt was just a play,\u201d James said after the Lakers lost 132-119<\/a> to the San Antonio Spurs on Wednesday, getting eliminated from NBA Cup play and setting up a regular-season matchup at Phoenix on Sunday at 5 p.m. PST.<\/p>\n

The Lakers (17-7) went 2-3 during a revealing five-game stretch against teams with winning records, and needed fourth-quarter heroics to squeeze out both of their wins that came by a combined seven points. The Lakers\u2019 plus-1.5 scoring margin ranks 15th in the NBA after their last three losses came by an average of 16.3 points.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe really got to look ourselves in the mirror and figure out what we’re gonna do,\u201d guard Marcus Smart<\/a> said. \u201cWe’re going to lay down and get punked or we’re going to fight back. And I’m not the one that’s going to lay down and get punked.\u201d<\/p>\n

Here are three takeaways from the loss:<\/p>\n

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Marcus Smart adds a spark<\/p>\n

After missing six games because of a back injury, Smart returned to score a season-high 26 points in 27 minutes, going eight for 13 from three-point range with three rebounds and one assist.<\/p>\n

Smart struggled with injuries while with Memphis and Washington after getting traded from Boston in 2023. He hoped that coming to the Lakers, with their eternal championship ambitions, could help him revitalize his career. He got off to an uneven start, missing two of the first five games while shooting only 25.4% from three-point range.<\/p>\n

Read more: LeBron James is just focused on the now as Lakers fall to Spurs in the NBA Cup<\/a><\/p>\n

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Then he hit his highest three-point total in a game since Jan. 5, 2024, on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll I can do is control how I prepare, and that’s to make the shot,\u201d Smart said. \u201cI’ve been doing it \u2014 everything right. Tonight was the night for me, and hopefully that starts a trend for me to start making some shots consistently.\u201d<\/p>\n

Playing his highest minute total since Nov. 14 against New Orleans, Smart said his back \u201cfelt good\u201d during the game. His only physical shortcoming was getting his wind back after being sidelined for two weeks. Coach JJ Redick, who called Smart the team\u2019s tone-setter on defense, commended Smart\u2019s \u201ccare factor,” even when the Lakers fell behind by 18 in the second quarter.<\/p>\n

Smart didn\u2019t score any points during a late second-quarter run that cut the Spurs lead from 17 to eight, but he played key roles on both ends of the court. His block on De\u2019Aaron Fox’s shot led to a Jaxson Hayes alley-oop dunk. Smart screened two Spurs players to clear the way for Luka Doncic on a driving layup with 1:51 remaining in the second quarter. Doncic immediately turned and pointed to Smart in appreciation.<\/p>\n

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\u201cWhen he guards, when he talks to us, we listen,\u201d said Doncic who finished with 35 points and eight assists, including three on Smart three-pointers in the third quarter. \u201cJust got to be a little bit more of what he\u2019s doing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bench falls flat\u00a0<\/p>\n

Outside of Smart\u2019s 26 points, the Lakers bench produced only five points. Three came from Dalton Knecht on a garbage time three-pointer.<\/p>\n

The Lakers have prolific scorers on their bench. Jake LaRavia\u2019s 27-point outburst in Minnesota made him a viral sensation and earned him a custom \u201cWho is No. 12?\u201d T-shirt designed by general manager Rob Pelinka. Gabe Vincent shot a sizzling 55.6% from three-point range during the preseason before he suffered a sprained ankle in the third game of the regular season.<\/p>\n

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But LaRavia and Vincent combined for only two shots Wednesday. The only other regular rotation player who scored off the bench was Hayes.<\/p>\n

Redick credited some of the bench struggles to San Antonio\u2019s defensive coverages. Despite not having Victor Wembanyama (calf), the Spurs used center Luke Kornet similarly to how Phoenix used Mark Williams to dare Doncic and Austin Reaves to shoot shots in the paint instead of letting the star guards play-make for others.<\/p>\n

Reaves struggled offensively for the second consecutive game, shooting six for 16 from the field for 15 points. Reaves, who leads the team in total minutes while also ranking second in points per game with 28.4, has made nine of 32 shots in the last two games.<\/p>\n

Even Rui Hachimura, who had scored in double figures in each of the previous three games and made the game-winning shot in Toronto, had just two shot attempts in the first three quarters Wednesday. He finished with a quiet eight points.<\/p>\n

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Redick has marveled at the way Hachimura can go long stretches of games without touching the ball then still make crucial shots. Teammates have asked him for his advice on how to stay ready when coming off the bench.<\/p>\n

\u201c[The ball is] gonna come eventually,\u201d Hachimura said before Wednesday’s game. \u201cAnd then that time comes, you have to make some moves. You have to do something about it, so you don’t want to be surprised when it gets [to you].\u201d<\/p>\n

No strings attached<\/p>\n

The Lakers entered Wednesday\u2019s game ranked 21st in defensive rating. They were the fifth-worst team in opponent three-point shooting percentage, allowing teams to shoot 38.2% from three. The percentage will get even worse after San Antonio (17-7) shot 44.7% from three on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

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Opponents have shot better than 40% from beyond the arc in six of the last seven games against the Lakers. The Pelicans and Celtics both shot better than 50% from three.<\/p>\n

Without Wembanyama, the Spurs showcased their dynamic backcourt, led by Fox. The speedy guard who missed the last matchup against the Lakers had 20 points while Stephon Castle, last year\u2019s rookie of the year, dropped 30 points to go along with 10 rebounds and six assists on the Lakers, who simply had no answers for the quick, athletic guards.<\/p>\n

\u201cBeing able to contain the basketball is probably the most difficult thing for our team right now,\u201d Redick said.<\/p>\n

Doncic and Reaves have become the highest scoring duo in the league, but the guards will never be known for their defensive prowess. The soon-to-be 41-year-old James is well past his time of being a regular defensive standout. If the Lakers can compete defensively, it has to be as a unit, James stressed.<\/p>\n

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\u201cFive guys being on a string,\u201d James said. \u201cObviously, you can’t do it individually by yourself. It has to be five guys on a string, communication, always at an all-time high.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sign up for our weekly newsletter on all things Lakers.<\/a><\/p>\n

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LeBron James\u2019 emphatic one-handed dunk brought the crowd at Crypto.com Arena to its feet. It left Luke Kornet…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":466771,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[1013,7,45,1250,1314,370,4077,32,1661,2289,300,185,368,4996,326,307,6,478,1012,969,534,930,680,693],"class_list":{"0":"post-466770","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nba","8":"tag-austin-reaves","9":"tag-basketball","10":"tag-boston","11":"tag-dalton-knecht","12":"tag-deaaron-fox","13":"tag-gabe-vincent","14":"tag-jake-laravia","15":"tag-jaxson-hayes","16":"tag-jj-redick","17":"tag-kelly-olynyk","18":"tag-lakers","19":"tag-lebron-james","20":"tag-luka-doncic","21":"tag-luke-kornet","22":"tag-marcus-smart","23":"tag-minnesota","24":"tag-nba","25":"tag-new-orleans","26":"tag-rui-hachimura","27":"tag-san-antonio","28":"tag-spurs","29":"tag-stephon-castle","30":"tag-toronto","31":"tag-victor-wembanyama"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/115701000719704159","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/466770","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=466770"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/466770\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/466771"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=466770"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=466770"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=466770"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}