Getty Austin Reaves of the Los Angeles Lakers.
The Los Angeles Lakers don’t have a lot of room for error down the stretch of the season. They are making a serious push for the playoffs, and their dealings at the trade deadline put them in a great spot to compete for a postseason spot after a shaky start to the year.
On Sunday night, they picked up a big-time win over the Orlando Magic. And on a night when some other players were struggling, Austin Reaves stepped up in a big way. After the game, head coach Darvin Ham showed love to Reaves, praising him for his huge night.
“I thought it was him being his normal self,” Ham said via the NBA Interviews YouTube channel. “What he’s been all year. Coming up in clutch moments for us. Trying to make plays downhill. Putting the defense in uncomfortable positions with his ability to attack the paint and draw fouls. So, he was great. He ended up with 36 [and] we needed all of them tonight. His aggressiveness reflects in his free-throw attempts. But that’s been Austin all year. He’s a hell of a player. Happy he’s on our team, and we damn sure needed him tonight.”
Reaves was the star of the show against the Magic. No one else on the team cracked the 20-point mark, but he dropped a career-high 36 points. He also added six rebounds and six assists to his totals, shooting 9-of-14 from the field and 1-of-4 from behind the three-point line.
The Lakers guard also did a solid job of getting to the free-throw line. He shot 16-of-18 from the charity stripe.
Austin Reaves Delivers Lakers Reality Check
The win over Orlando followed a brutal loss to the Dallas Mavericks, in which the Lakers lost by way of a game-winning shot from Maxi Kleber. After that loss, Reaves provided a harsh reality check about the mood in the Lakers locker room.
“I thought the mood was exactly what it should have been,” Reaves said of the Lakers locker room via the NBA Interviews YouTube channel. “[We have to] go in tomorrow, watch a lot of film, and learn from our mistakes. I think we’ve bounced back pretty good with this group after losses. I don’t know if we’ve had back-to-back losses until now. But we got to figure out how we move on and play the next game.”
Darvin Ham Discusses Lakers Shot Selection
In addition, after their loss to Dallas, Ham spoke about the Lakers’ shot selection.
“Dennis [Schroder], Austin [Reaves], D-Lo [D’Angelo Russell], I mean, they’ve made those shots,” Ham said via the NBA Interviews YouTube channel. “You just got to trust your players and trust that they’re going to make plays and be aggressive, and sometimes, it’s a make-or-miss league. Those same looks, you don’t even mention them when they go in. And I’ve seen those same looks go in. But I thought maybe the ball could have hopped around a little bit better. I thought we were trying to do the right thing and play the right way. But again, we were aggressive. Thus the 31 free throws. But you have to make more than 19. And you can’t foul shooters. We had some really bad fouls throughout the game. But again, we can’t feel sorry for ourselves. As tough as this loss is, we got to pick ourselves up, wipe off the dust, and get ourselves out of the dirt. Refill our cups up and come out and try to get a win on Sunday.”