Aside from Anthony Davis and LeBron James, the only other Los Angeles Lakers player who has been playing at a relatively high level consistently has been Austin Reaves.
After a slow start to the season, Reaves has begun to more resemble the player the Lakers expected him to be this year.
Unfortunately, that hasn’t been enough as the Lakers’ slide has continued into 2024 with the team dropping their fourth straight game overall with a loss to the Memphis Grizzlies on Friday night. The pressure to end the skid and turn things around would seem to be increasing, but Reaves insists that during the game he is focused solely on doing whatever he can to win that night.
“To be completely honest, it would be almost impossible for my mind to go there during a game,” Reaves said. “I can’t speak for everybody else, obviously. But when you’re playing a game, think about the game. I’m not thinking about record, what you’re doing, how you’re playing. Think about winning the game. And that’s all I think about is how can I affect the game in a winning way.”
That is certainly the way to approach things, especially during a rough stretch for the team. The Lakers can’t afford to think about the previous contests, just what needs to be done on that particular night to get a win.
Of course, when a team is struggling as the Lakers are, they can begin to get down on themselves, but Reaves noted that isn’t the case. The guard believes that the feeling in the locker room shouldn’t be great as they are losing, but that doesn’t mean they have lost confidence in themselves.
“We’re losing. We shouldn’t be in like a high state of mind right now,” Reaves added. “We got to figure it out. Like we’re not winning games. But individually, if you go down the line and look how we’re playing, obviously not getting the job done, but I don’t think we could point anything out to what your point is of someone being less confident or whatever it is. I feel like we’re still playing confident, just not winning games.”
The last thing the Lakers can afford to do is get down on themselves. This is the same team that just weeks ago dominated some of the best teams in the league and Reaves and the rest of the Lakers can’t forget that.
Austin Reaves says Lakers’ 3-point shooting must improve
Another area where the Lakers greatly need to improve is from behind the arc and Reaves knows that if they can hit perimeter shots, it only makes things that much easier for LeBron James and Anthony Davis.
“You got to shoot the 3 well, obviously turnovers have been an issue,” Reaves said. “But once we start making 3s at a good percentage then everything will open up, especially for Bron and AD. So we have to do our part in helping them out because they draw so much attention.”
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