Smart understands what is in front of the Lakers.
The Los Angeles Lakers are heading into their first-round playoff matchup against the Houston Rockets without two of their best players, and the outside world has already started counting them out.
Marcus Smart does not seem too worried about any of that.
At practice on Tuesday, the veteran guard sent a direct message about what he expects from this series.
"They're going to try to come in and punk us. And if you will allow that, you will be punked. And I don't think we have any guys that are going to be punked on this team," Smart said. "So, we might not be the most athletic and strongest, but we got to have the most heart."
That is the type of quote this team needed to hear right now.
The Lakers finished the regular season 53-29 and earned home-court advantage in the first round, while the Rockets landed the fifth seed at 52-30.
The Lakers won two of the three regular-season meetings, taking both March games in Houston while the Rockets grabbed a Christmas Day win in Los Angeles.
Playing Without Doncic and Reaves
The biggest question surrounding this series is the health of Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves.
Both went down on April 1 in Oklahoma City, Doncic with a hamstring strain and Reaves with an oblique strain.
Neither is expected back for the first round, which leaves a massive hole in the Los Angeles Lakers' lineup.
Without those two, the offense is going to run through LeBron James, who averaged 20.9 points, 7.2 assists, and 6.1 rebounds in 60 games this season.
LeBron showed he can still carry this group down the stretch, putting up 25.5 points on 56 percent shooting over the final week.
But doing that over a seven-game series against a Houston defense that ranked sixth in net rating is different.
Heart Over Talent
That is where Smart's message matters the most.
He is not pretending the Lakers can match Houston's talent on paper, with Kevin Durant, Alperen Sengun, and Amen Thompson on the other side.
He is saying the gap can be closed with effort and toughness.
Smart averaged 9.3 points, 3.0 assists, and 1.5 steals across 53 starts this season, and his value has always been about the things that do not show up in a box score.
Diving after Loose balls, charges drawn, and getting under somebody's skin.
The Lakers won their final three regular-season games without Doncic and Reaves, and they outscored opponents by 11 points per 100 possessions when LeBron was on the floor without the other two.
Rui Hachimura and Luke Kennard stepped into bigger roles, and Kennard went off for 19 against Phoenix in the regular-season finale stretch.
Houston is favored and probably should be, but Smart has spent his career being counted out and finding ways to make it work.
If the Lakers are going to pull this off, it is going to take exactly what he described on Tuesday.
Not just more talent, but more heart and fight.