The Los Angeles Lakers dropped to 24-15 in this 2025-26 season with a 135-117 loss to the Charlotte Hornets at Crypto.com Arena on Thursday. Lakers players weren’t too happy with the officiating in this one, and there were occasions where they were busy complaining to the officials instead of running back on defense.
That led to Lakers guard Marcus Smart being asked postgame if he senses frustration among his teammates over lack of calls and if that’s hurting the team in transition.
“It definitely doesn’t help,” Smart said, via Spectrum SportsNet. “When you think you got fouled or you think a call should have been called, and instead of getting back, we’re talking to the officials a lot. That definitely doesn’t help. But I mean, I don’t think that has anything with why we’re losing. We do a good job of getting to the free-throw line.
“Obviously, you want to get there more, but that’s just how the game has been called, and we have to be able to adapt to it and understand that we’re just not getting there,” Smart added. “The calls aren’t being called for us. That’s okay. We got to be able to play on and move on to the next play.”
This has to start with the big guns. Luka Doncic and LeBron James do this more than anyone else on the Lakers. There are instances where you don’t even see them get past halfcourt when a basket has already been made on the other end.
The Lakers aren’t a good defensive team as is, and they can’t afford to give up too many easy points in transition. They are currently allowing 25.0 points per game on transition, sixth highest in the NBA. The only teams that have allowed more are the Washington Wizards, New Orleans Pelicans, Utah Jazz, Portland Trail Blazers, and Brooklyn Nets.
Another change that Smart, who had 10 points (3-9 FG), four rebounds, three assists, and two steals against the Hornets, wants is for the Lakers to be extremely physical on defense. The 31-year-old believes that while more physicality is being allowed, he gets called for fouls when he tries to be physical.
“We just have to start fouling,” Smart said. “It’s a old saying, they can’t call them all. The toughest team sets the rules, so we just got to come out and be aggressive. Whether they call it or not, we can’t change how we play because of it.”
Well, the Lakers don’t need to go to that extreme. For starters, they can start to consistently play with the kind of intensity they had in the 141-116 win against the Atlanta Hawks on Tuesday. Smart was asked here what they can learn from that Hawks contest and bring to more games in the future.
“Just keep going,” Smart said. “This league is a game of runs, make or miss. Teams are making shots, and we aren’t, and that’s putting a lot of pressure on our defense. And in that Hawks game, we just kind of played freely. We didn’t care if we made it [or] missed it. We played every possession like it was our last, and that’s kind of what we got to have to do. That’s easier said than done. This is what’s going to happen.
“That’s the league we in,” Smart continued. “And everybody, each year it gets better. You know that everybody’s working on their game. So we can’t play certain guys and certain teams the way you probably used to…. We got to be able to adapt, and that’s being able to understand that no matter whether our shots are falling or not, we have to bring the physicality on both ends the whole game.”
Doncic also said after this loss to the Hornets that the Lakers need to play the way they did against the Hawks. The blueprint is there. They just have to follow it.
The Lakers take on the Trail Blazers next at Moda Center on Saturday at 10 PM ET. It will be interesting to see which version shows up, the one against the Hawks or the Hornets.
