After picking up their first win of the season against the Minnesota Timberwolves, the Los Angeles Lakers hit the road for the first time this season to take on the Sacramento Kings on Sunday night.
Luka Doncic has gotten off to a historic start to the season, but the Lakers were unfortunately without him in this one as he will miss the next week due to a pair of injuries. The Lakers were already missing LeBron James due to injury and now with Doncic also on the shelf, they were severely shorthanded. That didn’t matter though as Austin Reaves had a career night to lead an impressive 127-120 victory.
L.A. was in need of a scoring punch and Rui Hachimura provided it with six early points. Deandre Ayton was also active early, and the Lakers locked in defensively. That allowed them to get out in transition and take a 36-27 lead at the end of the first quarter.
Former Lakers guard Russell Westbrook bought the Kings some much-needed energy to begin the second as they quickly cut their deficit to just two. As hot as the Lakers were offensively in the first quarter, they cooled off in the second while DeMar DeRozan heated up to give his team its first lead.
Reaves getting rest was a big reason for the Lakers’ offensive drought, and when he returned he immediately drained a triple and a floater. Reaves wound up scoring 21 points in the first half alone, but the Kings kept matching him so the game was tied at 62 going into the locker room.
Ayton, who had a strong first half, kept that up with back-to-back buckets to begin the third quarter.
The injuries kept piling up though as Gabe Vincent rolled his ankle and was forced to head back to the locker room. The Lakers were even more shorthanded from there as he was ruled out for the night, but the Kings couldn’t stop fouling Reaves, who was living at the free throw line.
Reaves was leading the way on both ends of the floor and the Lakers closed the third quarter strong to take a 95-90 lead into the fourth.
With Reaves on the bench, the Lakers offense struggled once again and the Kings flipped the script with an 11-2 run.
As was the case in the first half though, Reaves immediately went back to work offensively when he came back in the game. He was scoring from all areas of the floor and all of a sudden the Lakers had an 8-0 run of their own.
Down the stretch, Reaves and Ayton were finding some success in the two-man game and then Jake LaRavia buried a triple to extend the lead to double digits.
The Kings tried to make one final comeback and got within three going into the final minute, but Reaves some free throws to ice it.
Reaves was sensational on the night, finishing with a career-high 51 points to go along with 11 rebounds, nine assists and two steals.
What’s next for the Lakers
The Lakers will now return home to host the Portland Trail Blazers on Monday night in the second game of a back-to-back before heading back on the road for a rematch with the Timberwolves on Wednesday.
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