The Los Angeles Lakers are entering an unfamiliar situation after defeating the Houston Rockets on Friday night. For the first time since 2012, they’ll host a home Game 1 in Los Angeles, as they secured the No. 3 seed in the Western Conference and will have home court advantage in at least the first round of the NBA Playoffs.
They accomplished this behind their superstar duo of Luka Doncic and LeBron James with a steady diet of Austin Reaves cementing himself as one of the best third options in all of basketball. After the blockbuster acquisition of Doncic, the team exploded to the top of the Western Conference standings, and go into the playoffs with real hope of bringing a championship to L.A.
For now, they can celebrate getting a full week off and having home court in the first round of the postseason. Reaves is doing just that, as he looked back on the year and looked ahead to the excitement of the playoffs.
“Feels good. We’ve obviously been through ups and downs throughout this year,” Reaves said. “I was joking with my best friend the other day, talking about how I feel like this year has been five years in total. But then again, it feels like it just started at the same time. As much as this group’s been through, every time we hit any type of adversity, we bounce back, and that’s all you can ask in a group.”
Reaves spoke about what he feels is the biggest area of focus for the Lakers as they transition from regular season basketball to playoff basketball.
“Playoff time is all about executing and paying attention to the details,” he said. “You can win by the smallest margin, or you can lose by couple mess ups. So, you have to be sharp every single possession.
“You obviously know you’re not going to be perfect, but any time you strive to be perfect, the better your team’s going to be. So just taking that into the postseason is very important for us.”
With all that said, Reaves believes the Lakers are legitimate contenders and have the ability to hoist the Larry O’Brien trophy if they play their cards right.
“As a team, I feel like we can win a championship, to be honest with you,” Reaves said. “And the reason of that is I know that everyone in that locker room believes that and is also bought in to whatever your role is to help us do that. You can go down the line with everybody in there and ask them what their role is and they’ll tell you exactly what it is.
“We’re not unrealistic with each other, and that’s what you have to be to be a good group. You have to be honest with each other, that’s why I give this coaching staff a lot of credit. They come in and they implanted their system and they held guys accountable to whatever they ask them to do and everybody bought in to that.”
The Lakers are at a disadvantage in terms of the time they’ve been together as a team to build chemistry. But they are hoping that everyone knowing their role, star power from James, Davis and Reaves, and a more balanced roster than L.A. has had in years can lead them to a title.
Austin Reaves confident in Lakers
The playoffs in the West are going to be an absolute battle regardless of the matchups, but Austin Reaves has the utmost confidence in the Lakers to make a run. After the win in Dallas, Reaves said that with Luka Doncic and LeBron James leading the way, and the talent of the supporting cast, the Lakers have shown just how dangerous they will be come playoff time.
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