Never question DPOY! How Smart s defensive wisdom "reborn" the Lakers defense

Never question the quality of DPOY! Smart scored 13 points, 4 rebounds and 6 assists against the Hornets, but the most important thing was 7 steals. This steal data is not only a new high in his personal career, but also the highest record in the history of the Lakers in the past 29 years.

Averaged 2.3 steals per game, ranking third in the league. As a substitute player, this defensive performance exceeded everyone's expectations, and his salary was only 5.5 million.

Leading the defense all over the court, causing the defender to make a direct mistake in the frontcourt

Using experience, Sexton hit the pick-and-roll and immediately passed through and directly stole the ball on the defensive path

Doncic's defense was good in this round, but the most important thing was Smart's positioning, which made Sexton uncomfortable. I didn’t know whether to pass to the corner or break through and ended up with a mistake

Retreat quickly. When no one retreated, Smart saw the alley-oop and directly jumped to interfere.

It was still defensive experience. He guessed Bridges’ passing intention and stood directly on the passing path to complete the steal.

Shrink first to the moment of the pass. Flying out directly to steal

Smart's defensive value can not only be reflected in statistics. The defensive quality obviously goes up a notch when he's on the court. The Lakers have many talented offensive players in their lineup, but they are in desperate need of a defensive leader. The opponent's shooting percentage dropped significantly when facing his defense. But he still has some problems, the three-point shooting is not stable enough, and he has had injury risks in the past few seasons. His attendance rate is still good so far.