Austin Reaves’ career-high 45 points help Lakers win fifth in a row
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Maybe it wasn’t the moment everyone expected, but it was still a moment nonetheless. A basketball season is 82 chances for a player or a team to do something special, whether it’s the first time Luka Doncic and LeBron James play together as teammates or whether it’s a random Saturday game without either of them.
In anticipation that Saturday would be that first moment for James and Doncic, ESPN flexed the game into a national broadcast only to see them on the end of the Lakers’ bench, both in sweats. Even center Mark Williams, the Lakers’ other key deadline acquisition, wasn’t available, his trade to the team still pending.
The Lakers say their acquisition of center Mark Williams has been rescinded because of a failure to satisfy a condition of the trade.
Austin Reaves, battling a handful of injuries himself, stepped into that void and made the most out of a moment for himself, playing one of his best games in a 124-117 win against the Pacers.
“That’ll do,” JJ Redick said of Reaves’ game.
Reaves scored a career-high 45 points, dancing past the defense on the perimeter, hitting from deep, getting to the free-throw line and even slamming home a two-handed dunk. Playing with a sore left elbow along with hip and back pain from a fall against Golden State, Reaves took on the high-volume role that likely won’t be there for him come Monday when Doncic is expected to debut and James should be back after being ruled out early Saturday because of ankle soreness.
He joins Elgin Baylor, Jerry West, Magic Johnson, Kobe Bryant and James as the only Lakers players to have at least 45 points, seven rebounds and seven assists in a game.
“It’s surreal because … I grew up a Kobe fan, huge Kobe fan, so I was automatically a Laker fan,” Reaves said. “So just to be able to, put the uniform on and go out there and compete and then, like you said, to have a couple of those games to where my name’s in with those guys is special.
“It’s something that I won’t take for granted, but, yeah, I know it really looks weird when you see my name up there.”
Rui Hachimura scored 24 points to go with nine rebounds on his 27th birthday, punctuating the game with a big dunk to seal the win.
The Lakers led 44-22 after a nearly perfect first quarter, the team getting key minutes from two-way players like Trey Jemison III and newly-signed guard Jordan Goodwin.
The Lakers’ roster crunch on Saturday had veteran Markieff Morris and his teammates counting the lockers with uniforms in them, the team trying to figure out whether or not Jemison would need to be active so the Lakers could have the minimum amount of players in uniform. Jemison scored six of his eight points in the first half. And Goodwin, forced into fourth-quarter work because Gabe Vincent finished the game on the bench with ice on his left shoulder, scored 10 points in his first NBA game this season.
Indiana made several second-half pushes, but the Lakers and Reaves never backed down, the team holding on to win for the 11th time in its last 13 games.
And there was no way it would’ve happened without Reaves seizing his moment — one that came on a night he nearly joined James and Doncic on the bench.
“I think once you get in the moment of the game, feel the atmosphere, adrenaline starts pumping,” Reaves said. “Then that’s when it becomes easier. But before I woke up this morning, it was sore all over, elbow especially.”
It was another moment in a story full of improbable ones, Reaves going from undrafted rookie to impact role player to key starter on a team that now has realistic expectations of contending for a championship.
“I didn’t really do anything in high school, but go to the gym, don’t party, don’t drink or anything like that,” Reaves said. “I kinda just stuck to basketball and chose that route. I know I had teachers in high school telling me I needed to figure out a Plan B because Plan A wasn’t going to work. I’ve been told that a million times.
“And I maybe wasn’t smart enough to understand that because it’s a very small percentage [of players] that makes it to this level. I was probably naive when they were telling me that and was like, ‘Screw y’all. I’m gonna figure it out.’”
Saturday, he did that again, the spotlight solely on him.
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