The thought of being back on this stage had Deandre Ayton’s blood boiling.
He quipped that he was ready to do backflips out of excitement because of what was ahead for him andthe Lakers.
That’s how much Ayton is relishing the opportunity to be a part of the NBA playoffs again, with theLakers playing the Rocketsin a first-round series.
“Personally, I’m very excited,” Ayton said recently. “I haven’t played playoff basketball in quite some time.”
It had been nearly three years since Ayton last played postseason basketball.
Before Saturday, his last playoff game was 35 months ago while he was with the Suns. He had 14 points and nine rebounds in a loss to the eventual NBA champion Nuggets in Game 5 of the second-round series on May 9, 2023, sitting out the Nuggets’ series-clinching Game 6 victory two days later.
Ayton was traded to the Trail Blazers 4 ½ months later, missing the playoffs during both of his seasons in Portland before joining the Lakers last summer.
“I love playing this game, and I take great passion [for] playing on both ends of the floor,” Ayton said of what he wants to prove during the playoffs. “I still believe just being a two-way player in this league, that’s truly my second nature, and that’s how I want to be noted as in this league. I can play hard on offense; I can play hard on the defense. So that’s just really my goal, running the floor always, and closing out [possessions] with rebounds and protecting the rim. Just trying to enhance everything I can coming into the playoffs.”
Ayton isn’t the only Laker making their return to postseason play after having to watch from home the last couple of years.
Marcus Smart, who was consistently in the playoffs to start his career, hadn’t played postseason basketball since his Eastern Conference run with the Celtics in 2023.
Source: California Post – Breaking California News, Photos & Videos
