Austin Reaves has grown into one of the most important pieces of the Los Angeles Lakers. From his rookie season, after going undrafted, to a bigger role in head coach JJ Redick’s offense this year, Reaves has been someone the team has relied upon in many different ways.
The Lakers certainly needed him at his best on Christmas Day against the Golden State Warriors and he delivered with a 26-point triple-double and the game-winning layup with just one second left. It isn’t the first time Reaves has been huge for the Lakers in the clutch and Redick and the Lakers coaching staff really appreciate his mindset.
In speaking on Reaves after the Christmas Day win, Redick noted how he has always been fearless, and that the staff loves his aggression, even if it comes with a couple of crazy shots sometimes, via NBA.com:
“Austin’s a fearless competitor and, going back to very early in his career, he’s not afraid of big moments or big games or having the ball in his hands or making free throws at the end of the game, he relishes that as a competitor. We’re a little short right now with ballhandling and for him to, against this team, have 10 assists and just three turnovers was really good, particularly coming off the game against Detroit where he had six turnovers. Him and Bron just steadied us out there and made sure we were organized most of the game, made sure we were generating good looks. That’s just, I think a blueprint for him. Now he takes some crazy-ass shots, and he took some of those too, but the aggressive mindset that he has night-to-night we love and we encourage.”
When a player brings so many positives to the team, a coach can live with some of the other things and that is the case with Reaves and Redick. The guard has seen his role change, being more on-the-ball, sometimes needing to be more of a facilitator than a scorer or vice versa.
With Anthony Davis out against the Warriors, the Lakers needed Reaves to step up and he did that in the biggest way. But coming through on the NBA’s biggest stages is something Reaves has done more often than not and the Lakers are appreciative of it.
Lakers’ Austin Reaves says game-winning play was meant for LeBron James
Austin Reaves found himself with the ball in his hands in a tie game with just seconds remaining and he delivered the game-winning layup for the Lakers against the Warriors. But if things had gone as originally planned, the ball would’ve been elsewhere.
To the surprise of no one, Reaves revealed that the final play was originally meant for LeBron James, but with the Warriors denying him the ball, it went to Reaves. Once he got it, the Lakers guard was simply focused on taking his time, and ensuring the Warriors didn’t have a chance to respond.
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