All indications are that Austin Reaves is likely to return to the Los Angeles Lakers’ lineup for Game 5 against the Houston Rockets.
While JJ Redick said after practice on Tuesday that he will be a game-time decision, reports indicate the Lakers are optimistic he will be able to play. Reaves was listed as questionable before both Games 3 and 4 and was eventually ruled out, but he said he is feeling good physically and with where the team is at.
“I feel good,” Reaves said. “As far as what we’re doing, we’re in a good spot up 3-1 back at home. We’ve got a good opportunity tomorrow, so we’ll see.”
Reaves also revealed his conversations with Redick and the training staff up to this point regarding his return to play.
“That’s what we sat down [and talked about] at the start of it and JJ was like you have to be comfortable with your body and what you can do to go out there and help us be successful,” he said. “I want to get out there as fast as I can. But like I said, I feel good and trending in the right direction. Can’t wait to wake up tomorrow and attack another day.”
As Reaves said, he will wake up on Wednesday and see how he feels before determining if he can play in Game 5.
“Just how my body feels… Everybody is on the same page here so everything from the get-go has been a group effort,” he added. “The main thing is to get me back out there as fast as I can while not putting myself at risk to re-injure myself. Everybody has been extremely positive throughout this whole process. We’re all working for one goal and we’re doing everything we can.”
Reaves suffered the left oblique muscle strain around four weeks ago during the team’s loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder. Even though he returned to the game, the 27-year-old knew it was a significant injury and was frustrated with it happening so late in the season.
“I kind of had a feeling,” he said. “Like I said, I’ve got a high pain tolerance so if something bothers me, it’s usually something is wrong. Super frustrated, obviously. We had just got the Luka news and were playing well as a team. So just super frustrated. But obviously our confidence didn’t waiver as a team. Basically the message from that day forward was they’re gonna do everything as a team to give us an opportunity to come back and play. They’ve done exactly what they’ve said.”
Austin Reaves frustrated but enjoying watching Lakers in postseason
Naturally, Reaves has not enjoyed watching playoff games from the sidelines even though his team is up 3-1 in the series against the Rockets.
“I’ve been pretty miserable,” the guard admitted. “Just not having somewhat of a control on a game, just sitting over there with not no hope in the game, but like no hope that I can affect the game. Like obviously I can talk and try to lead from being over there, but not really being on the court sucks. And yeah, I mean I think we’ve seen in the past when I get injured, I do everything I can to get back as soon as I can with still being safe at the same time.”
Putting his own frustration aside though, Reaves has enjoyed watching his teammates take care of business in his absence.
“It’s been a lot of fun. Just seeing the determination, togetherness, just the joy of them playing basketball together and competing every single possession. It’s been a lot of fun. Me and Luka talk about it every time we’re watching, just how hard we’re playing, the attention to detail and like I said, the togetherness.”
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