The Los Angeles Lakers got off to a great start to their road trip, beating the Chicago Bulls 121-110 on Wednesday night.
While Anthony Davis dominated the evening back in his hometown, the starting backcourt of D’Angelo Russell and Austin Reaves also played big parts in the win. In just their second game starting together, the duo combined for 36 points and nine assists.
Reaves as a starter has fit in seamlessly, but his fit next to Russell looks like a perfect pairing. In fact, the sophomore couldn’t help but gush about his running mate, via Broderick Turner of L.A. Times:
“Man, I love playing with him,” Reaves said. “He just plays the right way. Makes the simple play. Will go out of his way to ask you how you want to get involved in the game, like what play you want to run. Just little things like that. I feel like we’ve built a really good chemistry together on and off the court. We golfed together once. Just talking — and we talk a lot about basketball in those times. So it’s fun because he’s so talented but at the same time, so unselfish that it just gives a good energy to everybody on the team.”
Russell had just as much praise for Reaves as he said the latter can do just about anything on the court:
“I don’t know if you can name anything Austin Reaves can’t really do,” Russell said. “On the offensive end, he dominates the game and myself I try to do the same. So, when you got us next to those two guys (AD, Bron) out there, the game is super simple.”
After making so many moves at the deadline, the prevailing thought was the new roster would need time to gel. However, they’ve blown past any expectations and everything seems to be firing on all cylinders, especially the new backcourt.
It’s only been two games, but it’s hard not to feel optimistic about Los Angeles’ postseason hopes now that they’ve got functional and diverse lineups to play around with. Russell and Reaves complement each other well offensively and that should only continue to improve as they get more reps together.
Austin Reaves says Lakers are taking things one game at a time
With the win over the Bulls, the Lakers were able to move up to the No. 8 seed in the standings. However, Reaves said that he and the team are still approaching the final stretch of the season one game at a time.
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