LOS ANGELES — The Lakers once again used their traditional court at Crypto.com Arena for Wednesday night’s NBA Cup quarterfinal matchup against the San Antonio Spurs instead of their bright yellow Cup court.
Multiple Lakers players noted how slippery the Cup Court was for their Nov. 25 Group Play victory over the Clippers, which was the first – and only – time the Lakers used the alternate court this season.
“That was bad,” forward Rui Hachimura said. “I felt it right away. It just felt weird. Like oily, slippery.”
Star guard Luka Doncic was also critical of the court in the immediate aftermath of the game against the Clippers, going as far as to call the Lakers’ Cup Court “dangerous.”
“It’s just slippery,” Doncic said at the time. “I slipped a lot of times and you could see a lot of players slipped. And that’s dangerous, man.”
The Lakers used their traditional court for their final Group Play matchup against the Dallas Mavericks on Nov. 28 after technicians from the league’s court vendor deemed the Lakers’ Cup court unplayable.
“I really appreciate the Lakers and the league,” Doncic said. “They did us a favor. I was talking about it, so I really appreciate both of them.”
The Cup court was sent back for repairs with the expectation it would be ready if the Lakers hosted their quarterfinal game, but that didn’t come to fruition.
The Orlando Magic also used their traditional court instead of their Cup court in their quarterfinal victory over the Miami Heat on Tuesday.
All 30 NBA teams have used unique, colorful courts for Group Play and quarterfinal games hosted in-market, with a neutral Cup Court to be used for the semifinals and final in Las Vegas.
SMART BACK
Veteran guard Marcus Smart made his return to the court on Wednesday after sitting out the previous six games because of back ailments, most recently being listed as out for Sunday’s road win against the Philadelphia 76ers because of left lumbar muscle strain.
The 12th-year guard averaged 9.3 points, 2.9 assists, 2.3 rebounds and a team-best 1.8 steals in the 14 games he played (nine starts) entering Wednesday.
Although the Lakers went 4-2 in Smart’s absence, their defensive rating (points allowed per 100 possessions) of 122.9 in the six games Smart was out ranked 25th in the league over that span.
“I would say the biggest things are the physicality, the disruption and then being another communicator on the court,” Lakers coach JJ Redick responded when asked what Smart brings to the team defensively.
Teammate Austin Reaves added: “He does a lot on that end. He obviously competes at a high level. When he plays, that energy is contagious to the whole team. So when you don’t have a guy like that, your energy shouldn’t go down, but you don’t have that kind of boost when he gets in the game and then starts picking up 94 [feet], taking charges and all those kinds of stuff.”