Rowan Kavner
LOS ANGELES – Doc Rivers joked about how fun it is for a player to go against his “ex.”
The “ex” in this case for Josh Smith happened to be a Rockets team that beat his current team in an excruciating postseason series loss for the Clippers, who watched Smith score 19 points in Game 6 and 15 in Game 7.
Now, Smith finds himself on the other side, trying to be a key cog as one of the main reserves for a Clippers team which once again has deep playoff aspirations. Asked whether there’s extra motivation to play well against his “ex,” Smith said that’s obvious.
“A person that says no would be lying,” Smith said before the game. “I definitely want to come out and put my best foot forward and just continue to grow with this team that I’m with and just continue to be an impact player as much as possible when I touch the floor.”
Rockets coach Kevin McHale didn’t have to think back long to remember how much of an impact Smith can make.
“We wanted Josh back,” McHale said. “I like Josh. I miss him, had a real comfort level with him. He’s a good kid. Never had any problems with him. He had an ability to make plays, never afraid to shoot the big shots. I like Josh and I liked what he brought to us.”
Smith ended up scoring 10 points on 5-of-9 shooting and dishing out five assists. He said it would be good to see his former teammates and he still communicates with a lot of those guys, but he also knew it would feel strange to play against them after sharing their successes months ago.
That’s a feeling also likely shared by Pablo Prigioni, as both players were vital in the Rockets’ postseason success last season before choosing to play with the Clippers this year.
“But once that ball is in the air, then they’re my opponents,” Smith said.
Smith doesn’t hold it against his former teams that he’s played for three different squads since the beginning of the 2014-15 season. He said he looks at the NBA as a business, and players can’t take that personally.
But when he went to Houston, there was a personal side to it. He had known Dwight Howard since the two were in preschool. Their friends were parents and they even had the same babysitter. Smith joked about how much trouble they used to get in.
It made it tough to tell him he wasn’t returning.
“It kind of was, but at the end of the day, I think as a friend you can understand the decisions your friends make as far as what they feel is best for their lives and their families,” Smith said.
