Los Angeles, Calif. — In their return from the annual Grammy Tour, the Lakers found themselves without their star guard Luka Dončić, who exited early on Thursday at Crypto.com Arena.
With the NBA’s leading scorer down, Austin Reaves answered the call, scoring 35 points off the bench that helped power Los Angeles from 14 down to beat the Philadelphia 76ers 119-115.
It was only Reaves’ second game removed from a 19-game absence and on top of a 25-minute restriction, finishing the game with just that at 25 minutes and three seconds played on an efficient 12 for 17 shooting and five made 3s.
It was Reaves’ sixth time this season having a 30-point game and connecting on over 10 field goals in a contest.
“We’re just gonna keep him on a 25-minute limit if he’s gonna score 35,” coach JJ Redick said. “He was unbelievable tonight. His drives, I know he made threes tonight and hit a couple that were pretty incredible, but his drives and his thrust. [He] got to the free throw line but just got in the paint and made plays and scored at the rim. It was great to see.”
The Lakers found themselves in a deep hole as Joel Embiid kept slicing L.A.’s defense and Dončić left for the locker room with 3:03 left in the second quarter. Dončić would not return, finishing the night with 10 points on three of 10 shooting in 15 minutes.
Soreness in his left hamstring was the reason for his exit, with Redick confirming he didn’t feel he could return to finish the rest of the contest.
They had no answer for Embiid, who finished the night with 35 points—20 of which came in the first half. The Sixers would reach their biggest lead of the game at the top of the second half after starting the third quarter on a 6-0 run.
Then the Lakers slowly climbed back behind an active home crowd that had waited since Jan. 18—their last home game—to see them. L.A. outscored the Sixers 34-28 in the third quarter and then opened up the fourth quarter on a 12-2 run.
Within the fourth quarter run, Reaves would connect on back-to-back 3s to give the Lakers their first lead of the contest. The first being a prayer 3 after receiving a live turnover grenade pass from Maxi Kleber with 0.9 seconds left, the second being a step-back 3 with rookie V.J. Edgecombe draped all over him.
Reaves would pour in 13 points in the fourth quarter, while Marcus Smart gave some clutch delivery down the stretch with back-to-back 3s as well and a nice find to an open Jarred Vanderbilt for an easy dunk.
The Lakers nearly fumbled the game away with a 116-108 lead with under 50 seconds left. The Sixers got it down to two points with under 20 seconds left and then Maxi Kleber found Rui Hachimura for the game-sealing dunk.
The box score didn’t give the full picture of the impact Kleber had on the Lakers, having multiple stops on the smaller and much quicker guard in Tyrese Maxey, a team-high +23 plus/minus and the game-sealing assist.
“I think the one thing that you always can do is just support and be there for your teammates. I think that keeps you mentally in the game,” Kleber said on staying ready.
The Lakers’ win improves them to 31-19 at the 50-game mark as they now sit fifth in the Western Conference with the Golden State Warriors next up on Saturday.