The Los Angeles Lakers got a career night from guard Austin Reaves against the Brooklyn Nets on Friday night. He put up a career-high 38 points on 13-for-23 from the field and 4-of-8 from beyond the arc. It helped lift the Lakers to their second consecutive win, and was a perfect one-two punch for LeBron James with Anthony Davis out of the lineup.
Reaves and James combined for 67 points on highly efficient shooting in the win. And when Reaves had already secured a career high and had the chance to go for 40, he opted to throw a dime to James in the final minutes to help guarantee a victory. It was a selfless decision from Reaves, who would not have been blamed at all for taking it himself and trying to reach that 40 threshold.
He’s not too worried about missing that opportunity, though. Reaves was just glad to get the win and happy that he was able to set up LeBron for a highlight play. He spoke about still having LeBron on the receiving end of his passes after the win.
“I had opportunities after that to get 40,” Reaves said. “I just didn’t make them. But I’m not worried about the points. I’m worried about winning. I would say 95% of the time, if there’s a situation like that, I’m going to throw the ball up to him.
“I’ve seen my whole life him catching lobs and dunking. So to be the one throwing him the ball is still cool to me, especially at his age. Not saying he’s old, but he’s getting up there, and he can still jump way better than most people ever can. So I don’t really think it was a great pass. But to him, he don’t miss many lobs.”
James gave his thoughts on Reaves giving up the ball for the lob, saying that it’s the shared mentality that the two have as distributors that allow them to make plays like that regularly.
“It’s the passer’s job, me and AR been in enough fastbreak situations where I think that’s two games in a row. Yeah, I think that’s two games in a row where he’s found me on a lob in transition, but AR know he could throw it anywhere,” LeBron said. “I can still go get it, even at where I’m at in my career. I can go get it where he throws it. And he trusts me. So, and I trust AR. So it’s just chemistry.”
Reaves and James have developed really strong chemistry over their three years playing together, and that’s largely because they both play smart basketball and are happy to put aside their scoring to help the team win. Reaves showed it in that moment, and LeBron has shown it countless times over the course of his career.
And Reaves may have a little while longer to keep throwing lobs to James.
Austin Reaves commends D’Angelo Russell for helping him grow
Friday night featured a return to Los Angeles for D’Angelo Russell, who was traded to the Brooklyn Nets a few weeks ago. The now second-time Net got to square off with Austin Reaves, who he became great friends with during their time together.
By trading Russell away, it opened the door for Reaves to be the Lakers’ starting point guard and has shown steady growth in this new role. In his last 10 games, the 26-year-old is averaging 22.2 points, 5.3 rebounds and 8.9 assists on 44.7% from the field and 40.6% from 3-point range.
Reaves is continuing to find confidence as a lead guard and he spoke to Russell’s positive impact for helping him take strides in his game.
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