LOS ANGELES — “I don’t know, I made some shots, made some crazy ones … When you’re out with injury I don’t think it’s what everybody thinks it is … honestly I think you do more when you’re hurt then you do when you’re playing because you’re trying to stay conditioned, you’re trying to stay somewhat in rhythm,” Austin Reaves on scoring to 35 points in 25 minutes.
The Los Angeles Lakers took down the Philadelphia 76ers 119-115, in a Thursday night turnaround thrilling win bringing the 76ers five game win streak to an end.
Everything went right for the Lakers in the 4th quarter, especially Austin Reaves. AR, who had 13 points alone in the last quarter of the game, and finished with 35 points at the final buzzer, was looking unstoppable in his second game back from injury. His three made three’s in the fourth were something special, as they brought the crowd to life. Reaves went 19 games without checking into a game due to suffering a grade two left gastrocnemius (calf) strain that he sustained this past Christmas day.
Reaves’ dominance Thursday night against the Philadelphia 76ers had Crypto.com arena chanting “MVP! MVP! MVP!,” each time he stepped up to take free throws.
“It just took everybody being connected on both ends of the floor. We played hard, obviously losing Luka, nothing is going to be easy after that because he does so much for us.” Reaves on what it took for this Lakers team to come through with a comeback victory. “But we bonded together, I mean everybody bought in to having one goal and that’s winning the game tonight.”
Star guard Luka Doncic who is leading the NBA in scoring with averaging 32.8 points per game, was taken into the locker room late in the second quarter of the game. He was ultimately ruled out, not playing a single minute in the second half. He will undergo an MRI Friday to determine the severity of the situation. In the first half where his presence was felt, he contributed 10 points.
Lakers head coach JJ Reddick did say that it’s too early to tell if there is an injury but he did add, “He felt some soreness in his hamstring. He didn’t feel like it was good enough to go back in [and] neither did medical. So we held him out. He’ll get some imaging.”
Reddick did not avoid mentioning how much his team struggled in the first half. Los Angeles had 13 turnovers in the first half, many in which the Sixers capitalized on aiding in Philly finishing the first half leading by eight points sitting at 59-51. This was a noticeable difference compared to the 76ers only turning the ball over four times in the first half. Reddick also credited his bench for being a large part of getting this team going in the second half with a certain toughness.
When Reddick was asked about his message to the team after this reenergized win against the 76ers, he replied, “Everybody gets credit for it.”
It’s true that the Lakers were playing with a sense of wanting to spread the wealth after their guy Luka went down. Just in the second half LeBron James tallied 13 points, Jake LaRavia had eight points in the second, Rui Hachimura energetically had 11 second half points, and Marcus Smart diligently finished the second half with seven points. Of course this was all in addition to Reave’s 21 second half points.
The Lakers played with a selfless sense of urgency to finish out this game. There was a moment in the fourth when Smart had an open look to shoot a three, but rather he passed it right under the basket to Jarred Vanderbilt for an uncontested dunk. Then shortly after Smart hit back-to-back made three pointers, which at that point put the Lakers up by 10, as the scoreboard read 103-93.
“I’ve always played the game the right way and prided myself on it. And especially a guy you know like me who plays defense a lot and isn’t really involved offensively that much to be able to find Vando and kind of get him a touch and get involved is big, because I understand that feeling of you know working yourself to death without any of the recognition, without anything to congratulate you.” Smart continued, “I just wanted him to understand you know, if I can play unselfishly, this is how the game is supposed to be played and it does wonders, and the basketball gods reward that.”