Lakers work to claim Game 2

LOS ANGELES — The serpentine line of fans adorned in purple and gold stretched toward the 110 Freeway after the clock hit 5 p.m.

LA Live pulsed with playoff electricity, corporate sponsors set up tents, bodies pressed against metal barricades and anticipation thick as rainforest humidity.

Hollywood A-listers worked the sidelines. Luka Dončić — in street clothes, still sidelined, still watching — walked to center court to receive the Western Conference Player of the Month trophy and the NBA Scoring Champion award. The crowd roared for him.

Then the crowd held its breath.

Kevin Durant was back.

The bruised right knee had healed. The Rockets had their assassin; the Lakers had a problem.

And Marcus Smart had his soundtrack.

The Los Angeles Lakers defeated the Houston Rockets 101-94 and took a 2-0 series lead. 

A short-handed team without Dončić and Austin Reaves now two wins from the second round. And a 31-year-old defensive savant who played like a man possessed — not by rage, but by rhythm. The rhythm of work.

Smart, the man who plays like he has something to prove and nothing to lose, walked onto that floor Tuesday night and became a living, breathing, floor-diving embodiment of Kool Moe Dee’s declaration: I puts in work.

Durant, a 6-foot-11 cheat code, a problem without a solution, started hot. He went 4-for-5 for 11 points in the first half, for 11 points in the first quarter. 

The man is a walking bucket. The Rockets fed him. The Lakers scrambled.

Then Smart picked his pocket.

Durant brought the ball up, casual, confident, the way only a future Hall of Famer can be. 

Smart crouched low and patient — a cat watching a bird that doesn’t know it’s being watched. Durant dribbled left. Smart’s hand shot out. Not a slap––a scalpel. 

The ball came loose. Smart dove. The floor met his chest, his chin, his knuckles. He didn’t flinch. He scooped the ball, flicked it to LeBron James, and LeBron turned it into a driving layup.

The crowd detonated. Not because of the score. Because of the sacrifice.

“Just being locked in" Smart said afterward. “Being that defensive anchor, that vocal leader that this team needs. Using my IQ, my instincts to see plays."

He wasn’t done. He was just getting warmed up.

He picked Durant’s pocket at half court. He dived on the hardwood like it owed him money. He gave the ball to LeBron James for a driving layup that made the arena shudder. This was defense and devotion.

Smart knocked down a three to tie the game at nine. Then another three to give the Lakers a three-point lead. 

The man who built a 13-year career on stops was now filling it up from deep. He finished the first quarter with two steals and eight points.

Luke Kennard — still scorching from Game 1, still playing like a man who had swallowed a dictionary of confidence — added his own damage. 

Off the dribble. Off the muscle. Off the glass with that ambidextrous right-hand hook that made LeBron nod from the wing. 

Kennard is the pail of water Jack and Jill went down the hill for. A bucket every time. He finished with 23 points, 3-of-6 from three, backing up his Game 1 masterpiece with another steady hand.

But the first quarter belonged to Smart. 

The pick. The dive. The threes. The work.

Smart kept taking what the Rockets gave him. And they kept giving.

Another three. A floater. Two free throws. 

He wasn’t forcing. He was flowing. 

The offense moved through him like water through a crack in a dam. 

Smart had seven assists by night’s end. Seven. 

For a guy who entered the league as a defensive specialist, that’s evolution. That’s work. That’s a man who has spent 13 years adding layers to his game.

“Just really being very selective with when I want to go, use my hands," Smart said. “Pick my spots without fouling. My teammates allow me to gamble a little bit. They trust me, my instincts."

Trust. That’s the word the Lakers keep using. 

Trust in the collective. 

Trust in the man who dives on floors at 31, who has nothing left to prove and everything left to give.

The Lakers led 54-51 at the half. 

Durant had 20 points at the break. He looked like himself. He looked dangerous. But Smart had three steals. And the game was still a fistfight.

Houston tried to run. Push the pace. Get into the offense before the Lakers could set their half-court defense. 

Tire the old legs. Make them think.

Smart wouldn’t let them.

He picked up Durant full-court. He switched onto Amen Thompson. He rotated onto Alperen Sengun in the post. 

He was everywhere and nowhere — a ghost with a jersey number, a problem the Rockets couldn’t solve. Rui Hachimura helped. Kennard helped. LeBron helped. But Smart was the conductor, the quarterback, the man who made the defense hum.

“They did a really good job of taking away Durant in the fourth quarter" the broadcast said. But it started in the third. Smart set the tone. Smart drew the blueprint. Smart said: You want to score? You’re going to have to earn it. And I’m not in the mood to give away freebies.

The Lakers entered the fourth quarter tied. The stage was set for a superstar to take over.

Here is where the song reaches its chorus. Here is where Smart became Kool Moe Dee in the flesh.

Sequence one: Smart catches a pass on the wing. Pump fake. A Rockets defender flies past. Smart steps into a three. Swish. Lakers by six.

Sequence two: Smart drives baseline. Contact. Whistle. Two free throws. Swish. Swish. Lakers by eight.

Sequence three: Durant brings the ball up. He’s been quiet this quarter — just one field goal, four shots total, the Lakers defense swarming him like bees on a stolen hive. Smart reads Durant’s eyes. He sees the pass coming. He jumps the lane. Steal. Fast break. Layup. Lakers by 10.

Timeout Houston. The crowd is standing. Smart walks to the bench, face flat, eyes cold. He doesn’t smile. He doesn’t pump his fist. He just nods.

Because this is what work looks like. Work doesn’t celebrate. Work reloads.

“That’s just being locked in" Smart said. “Being that defensive anchor, that vocal leader."

He finished with 25 points — one short of his season high. He shot 5-for-7 from three. He added seven assists, five steals, two blocks. He was the game’s second leading scorer, its leading thief, its leading voice. 

He was, as JJ Redick put it, “unbelievable."

Smart has injected some toughness and physicality into this team, and his fervor has spread throughout the roster.

James led all scorers with 28 points, eight rebounds and seven assists. He was brilliant again — picking his spots, staying poised, being the calm in the chaos. “Greatness, man" Smart said of LeBron. “His IQ of the game. He picks his spots very well. He stays very poised."

Kennard had 23 points. He had a few hiccups — an eight-second violation, a backcourt step — but Redick threw them out the window.

But the headline? 

The Lakers defense. Again.

Houston shot 40.4% from the field. They made only seven 3-pointers. 

Through two games, the Lakers have held the Rockets to the second-lowest field goal percentage for an opponent in franchise playoff history. Tied with the 1995 Lakers against Seattle. Second only to… well, nobody in the past 31 years.

Durant finished with 23 points; he had 20 at halftime. That means in the second half — with Smart and Rui Hachimura, Kennard and everyone else took turns making his life miserable — Durant scored three points. 

Three.

They held him to one field goal in the fourth quarter. One. 

On the night, Durant had nine turnovers total. Nine. 

He had never had a playoff game with more turnovers.

“They started doubling me from possession one," Durant said. “I’ve got to do better and not put my teammates in bad positions."

Hachimura was asked about Smart’s performance guarding Durant. He was effusive with credit. 

“He doesn’t really show on the stats" Hachimura said. “But he gets us going. He was guarding KD full-court. He got the ball. Those kind of plays set the tone."

Smart was asked about Durant’s compliment — that the Lakers defense was the best version they could throw at him. 

Smart shrugged.

“It gives anybody confidence when you’re able to go up against one of the greatest scorers in this game," Smart said. “For him to say that speaks volumes. Not just me. This team. The things we put in every day."

The Lakers seize a 2-0 series lead. 

They have won both games without their two best offensive players. They have won both games by defending, by sharing, by trusting.

And they have won both games because Marcus Smart embodies a song that came out 17 years before he was born.

I puts in work / I puts in work / You try to front / You get hurt.

Smart was asked what it means to have this stage, this opportunity, this team. He didn’t talk about stats. He talked about gratitude.

“I’m very grateful" Smart said. “I thank God every day. I could have been out the league — injuries and things like that. To be back on this stage, making the plays I’m making with these guys, this organization? I’m just grateful."

Then he was asked about his role. About being the Swiss Army knife. About filling in the gaps.

“Tremendously for me" Smart said. “Everything is heightened. My whole life I’ve been that guy you can just throw in certain spots whenever you need. That’s who I’ve been. That’s what makes me valuable. That’s what makes me unique."

Unique. Valuable. A worker.

The series shifts to Houston for Game 3. 

The Rockets will be desperate. 

The crowd will be hostile.

Durant will be angry. 

Alperen Sengun — who had 20 points and 11 rebounds but has yet to truly explode — will try to assert himself. 

The Lakers will need to clean up the 17 offensive rebounds they surrendered, the 21 second-chance points they allowed.

But they have something now. Something they didn’t have before the series started.

They have Marcus Smart. And Marcus Smart has a theme song.

“I go to work / I puts in work / When I finish / You’ll need a nurse."

No nurses needed in Los Angeles on Tuesday night. Just a standing ovation. 

Just a 2-0 lead. 

Just a man who dove on the floor, stole the ball from a future Hall of Famer, knocked down five threes, dished seven assists and reminded everyone that the prettiest plays aren’t always the dunks.

Sometimes they’re the dives.

Sometimes they’re the picks.

Sometimes they’re the man who hears a 38-year-old hip-hop track and decides to live every word.

The work continues.