It was the first game of the biggest series of his career, the first chance for everybody’s favorite Laker to put a strong finish on a fabulous regular season and a new cornerstone contract.
Yet Austin Reaves crumbled.
Again.
It was the best opportunity for the potential free agent to begin earning the $241-million contract the Lakers were expected to offer this summer, the best chance for the April-cursed guard to escape his playoff demons and paint the Lakers future with a max masterpiece.
Yet Austin Reaves decorated with bricks.
Again.
The badly outmanned and heavily underdog Lakers generally played well enough and smart enough to hang with the defending champion Oklahoma City Thunder Tuesday night in the opener of their Western Conference semifinal series at Paycom Center.
All except for you-know-who.
In their 108-90 loss, Austin Reaves was arguably the difference.
While LeBron James was scoring 27 points and Deandre Ayton was grabbing 11 rebounds and Marcus Smart was leading a defensive charge that held reigning MVP Shea Gilgeous-Alexander to a season-low 18 points with seven turnovers, Reaves was going clank!
Thirty six minutes of clank!
Reaves threw up 16 shots of all shapes and sizes. He missed 13 of them.
Reaves heaved up five shots from beyond the three-point line, distant flings while both covered and alone. He made none of them.
He didn’t make his first basket until midway through the second quarter with the Lakers trailing by nine.
He didn’t make his second basket until midway through the fourth quarter with the Lakers trailing by 19.
In between, the Lakers had pulled to within four points midway through the third quarter before Reaves contributed to a 7-0 Thunder run that essentially ended the game. The Oklahoma City surge featured a Reaves’ missed three-point attempt and a Reaves turnover and was sadly typical of his entire evening.
He totaled eight points with four turnovers and one rebound while getting shoved all over the panhandle by an Oklahoma City defense that looked frighteningly familiar.
This is what Minnesota did to him last spring. This is what Denver did to him two springs ago.
This is not what was supposed to happen this spring, after he spent the regular season as Luka Doncic’s resourceful and resilient sidekick, averaging a career-high 23 points while making nearly half of his shots and more than a third of his treys.
He had worked his way into being one of the Lakers’ two cornerstones, and when he strained his left oblique muscle late in the season and missed the first four games of the first-round series against the Houston Rockets, the Doncic-less Lakers waited breathlessly for his return.
Well, he’s back. And be careful for what you wish. Because thus far this has been typical Playoff Austin Reaves.
He missed 12 of 15 shots in a Game 5 loss to the Rockets. He missed all four of his three-point attempts in a Game 6 clinching victory over the Rockets.
And now this, an opening statement against the Thunder that raised an interesting question in advance of a summer when Reaves is expected to opt out of his $14.9-million contract in hopes of earning a $241-million maximum deal from the Lakers.
Is he worth the money? Is he worth making him the second-highest paid Laker and thus limiting their financial ability to better build around Doncic?
After Tuesday night, one has to wonder.
This wouldn’t look so bad if the Lakers still weren’t missing the league’s leading scorer, Doncic sidelined indefinitely because of a strained left hamstring. Reaves will be given the big money to be a wingman, not the main man, so he’s currently being asked to play a role that he won’t be playing if he stays here.
But still, his playoff woes, when the lights get brighter and the elbows get sharper, have always nagged him. And do the Lakers want to roll the dice that these postseason problems will disappear instead of letting him walk and using that money to find someone more playoff-reliable?
His teammates love him, the fans adore him, and here’s guessing the Lakers won’t let this injury-marred stretch of games change their high opinion of him.
But, again, one has to wonder …
“Yeah, he didn’t play well but he’s going to bounce back,” said coach JJ Redick afterward. “He’s a great player.”
He’s a tough player, rushing back from that oblique injury with minimal recovery time. He’s also a stand-up player, a guy who just missed a month yet refuses to blame his struggles on the obvious difficulty in searching for your rhythm in the middle of the playoffs.
“Nobody cares about that,” he told reporters. “I’ve got to go out there and play better.”
He was asked about a tumble he took during the game, a question that gave him an opening to blame his struggles on the distinct possibility that he‘s not yet fully healed. He refused.
“I’m good,” he said.
James implied that Reaves, as usual, was being too hard on himself.
“He was out a month … he was out a month,” said James. “We know he’s going to make shots and make plays, but that’s tough. To be out a month towards the end of the season. So, obviously we’re trying to fast-track him getting back on the floor and doing the things that he was doing before the injury. But he’s out a month,”
James said just having Reaves on the court was enough.
“His presence alone helps us no matter what,” James said.
After being part of a Lakers team that just scored its fewest postseason points in five seasons, Reaves said he’s ready to go back to work.
“Watch film, see what the game gives you and … learn from that, move on,” he said.
That could be one expensive movie.
The post Show Austin Reaves the money? Lakers might have second thoughts after Game 1 meltdown appeared first on Los Angeles Times.
