Austin Reaves has come through multiple times in clutch situations over the past couple of seasons for the Los Angeles Lakers, but a gamble he made late on Thursday night came back to bite him big time.
With the Lakers down by five late, Reaves tried to blindside Denver Nuggets star Nikola Jokic for a steal, but the big man read it and found Michael Porter Jr. wide open in the corner for a 3-pointer that essentially iced the game in Denver’s favor.
Afterwards, Reaves reflected on his decision, feeling that he thought it was a good chance to make a winning play for the Lakers, but needs to be more solid in the future.
“Yeah, honestly, I thought I had it. Obviously not,” Reaves said after the Lakers’ loss. “They kept running the same play and catching it at the same spot, and I had seen in a couple of possessions before that, seen it again, and I thought it was a good opportunity to go try to make a winning play and obviously it shot me in the foot.
“I just need to be more solid right there. But it is what it is. I’m going to learn from it and get better.”
It’s unfortunate for Reaves, but had he came up with the steal it would have been lauded as an excellent read. It just happened to not work on this occasion, but he shouldn’t feel discouraged.
Ultimately, the Nuggets were able to execute down the stretch better than the Lakers, especially offensively where they ran some excellent plays to get open looks. Reaves noted that the Lakers do also have sets they turn to in the right situations.
“I think a lot of things go into those specific moments,” Reaves added. “With the personnel that we have, there’s a play that we ran multiple times tonight that got Bron in the pocket, something that was working for us and we continue to go back for. I think with personnel that we have and the skillsets that we have, that kind of changes with how the game is being played.”
The Lakers have struggled offensively at times down the stretch with things often boiling down to LeBron James having the ball and making something happen. Hopefully the team can discover more plays that will help be more efficient in crunch time and turn these close losses into wins.
Moving forward, Reaves will continue to be relied upon next to James and Anthony Davis as the Lakers look to turn this season around. The team made no moves at the trade deadline and must now focus on who they have in the locker room. Davis is happy it’s all behind them and is now focused on getting some wins.
“Guys hear their name in rumors and this is gonna happen, it’s not gonna happen. It can kind of be wacky for guys so I’m just glad it’s over with. We are who we are. We have who we have. This is gonna be our team, now. It’s behind us now. We got to figure out how to get some more wins and move up in the standings.”
