The thought of being back on this stage had Deandre Ayton’s blood boiling.
He quipped that he was ready to do backflips out of excitement because of what was ahead for him and the Lakers.
That’s how much Ayton is relishing the opportunity to be a part of the NBA playoffs again, with the Lakers playing the Rockets in a first-round series.
“Personally, I’m very excited,” Ayton said recently. “I haven’t played playoff basketball in quite some time.”
It had been nearly three years since Ayton last played postseason basketball.
Before Saturday, his last playoff game was 35 months ago while he was with the Suns. He had 14 points and nine rebounds in a loss to the eventual NBA champion Nuggets in Game 5 of the second-round series on May 9, 2023, sitting out the Nuggets’ series-clinching Game 6 victory two days later.
Ayton was traded to the Trail Blazers 4 ½ months later, missing the playoffs during both of his seasons in Portland before joining the Lakers last summer.
“I love playing this game, and I take great passion [for] playing on both ends of the floor,” Ayton said of what he wants to prove during the playoffs. “I still believe just being a two-way player in this league, that’s truly my second nature, and that’s how I want to be noted as in this league. I can play hard on offense; I can play hard on the defense. So that’s just really my goal, running the floor always, and closing out [possessions] with rebounds and protecting the rim. Just trying to enhance everything I can coming into the playoffs.”
Ayton isn’t the only Laker making their return to postseason play after having to watch from home the last couple of years.
Marcus Smart, who was consistently in the playoffs to start his career, hadn’t played postseason basketball since his Eastern Conference run with the Celtics in 2023.
Smart appeared in the postseason in each of the first nine years of his career, playing in 108 playoff games for the Celtics, which included five conference finals appearances and the 2022 NBA Finals.
He’s back in a familiar setting after not playing in postseason basketball with the Grizzlies and Wizards the previous two seasons.
“It means everything,” Smart said. “It has been a minute, but for me this is where things tend to start going up for me, and my play starts to turn up. I’m very excited to be back in the playoffs. I’m very excited to be on this team and help them do what we can, win some games and go as far as we can go. We don’t know how far that is, but we’re going to go out there and fight until we can’t fight no more, and that’s what I’m very excited about.”
Ayton and Smart played important roles for the Lakers en route to a 53-win season that secured the fourth seed in the West.
Smart was the Lakers’ best defender, playing in 62 games (54 starts), his most since 2022-23.
Ayton played in a career-high 72 games, the second most on the Lakers, and shot a career-high 67.1% from the field.
He got a taste of what Lakers playoff basketball is like as a visitor when his Suns beat the Lakers in six games in the first round of the 2021 playoffs.
“Especially being on this side of town now, playing in LA when I was on the other side, this place can get pretty loud,” Ayton said. “Coming out of these practices, [coach] JJ [Redick] gives you so much. And you have to dissect it sometimes, and you’re thinking about the environment, you think about the fans, thinking about the first game as a Laker in the playoffs. So I just try to find some time to catch myself, gather and just relax. I’ve been here before, but I am truly excited. I’m in the purple and gold, and I just want to really just play hard as hell to contribute to wins.”
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: nypost.com
