Injuries always take their toll on teams. Without the major talents on the floor, squads struggle to deliver their best performances. That is precisely what the Lakers are experiencing. They have not been able to find the stability needed to become serious title contenders once again.
Despite being without Luka Doncic, the Los Angeles side has managed to stay competitive against the NBA’s top franchises. This time, they faced the powerful Oklahoma City Thunder and were close to turning the game around.
However, they fell short. With one minute left in the contest, they were down by just three points, but something went wrong again for the purple and gold. They lost once more. The final score was 119-110.
For head coach JJ Redick, the issue in the defeat is clear, and he points to a single player: Austin Reaves.
Austin Reaves takes the brunt of the criticism for the Lakers’ loss
When losses arrive, the finger-pointing follows. The easy thing is to blame any member of the team. This time, it was Austin Reaves who absorbed most of the criticism from the purple and gold.
There were a couple of tough threes that he (Reaves ) took. Thought he had a couple angles on his drives and just didn’t finish. Had a couple middys that he didn’t, you know, he created separation with his bump and didn’t hit. Jalen Williams down the stretch did the same thing against us, and he made his. So, it’s just, you know, some of it is make miss. You know, we had open looks down the stretch, we didn’t make those.
JJ Redick said of his player during the postgame press conference.
Reaves has seen reduced minutes in recent games due to a left calf strain. He is averaging just 25 minutes per contest. The injury has already forced him to miss 19 games.
Austin Reaves’ current numbers are:
- 25.7 points per game
- 5.1 rebounds per game
- 6.0 assists per game
- 1.0 steals per game
- 50.7% field goals
- 36.3% three-pointers
- 87.1% free throws
- 27 games played
I played pretty bad in the second half. I got to be better and yeah, that’s really it. I think I got frustrated when I didn’t get the foul call, got the tech, let that kind of get to me a little bit.
Reaves said about the matchup against the Thunder.
It is also worth noting that the Thunder were far more physical than the Lakers on several occasions. Reaves was not the only one who struggled in the final quarter, as his teammates also faltered down the stretch.
If the Lakers want to have genuine aspirations of competing for the title this season, which could be LeBron James’ last, they will need significant improvement, especially on the defensive end.
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