It was thought that the Los Angeles Lakers had little, if any, chance of beating the Houston Rockets in the first round of the NBA playoffs. If they were to have any chance of doing so, Deandre Ayton would have to play some of the best basketball of his life against two-time All-Star Alperen Sengun.
At times during the regular season, Ayton was scapegoated by fans and even the media because his scoring and field-goal attempts per game fell to career lows. But against Houston, while he wasn't putting up big scoring numbers, he pounded the boards hard and played physical defense on Sengun. He was a major reason the Lakers got past Houston in six games.
Veteran guard Marcus Smart, who himself made a sizable impact on the defensive end, gave Ayton some massive praise after L.A.'s 98-78 Game 6 victory on Friday, per Lakers Nation.
Ayton was seen as a disappointment during the regular season, but Smart said that he promised he would step up during the playoffs, which is exactly what he has done so far.
Per Sports Illustrated, Austin Reaves told the media how well a job Ayton did defensively against Sengun, who didn't have his usual impact in this series.
In all, Ayton averaged 11.8 points on 60.4% field-goal shooting and 10.8 rebounds a game versus Houston. More than anything, Los Angeles has needed him to defend and rebound at a high level, and he did exactly that.
Now he will need to continue his fine play against the defending NBA champion Oklahoma City Thunder, who have two impactful big men in Isaiah Hartenstein and All-Star Chet Holmgren. Game 1 will take place on Tuesday, and while Oklahoma City is heavily favored, L.A. will look to pull off another upset.
This article originally appeared on LeBron Wire: Marcus Smart, Austin Reaves praise Deandre Ayton's performance
