The Los Angeles Lakers came out of a game against the Oklahoma City Thunder unscathed, winning 116-104 in a game that Los Angeles controlled from the start. D’Angelo Russell’s offensive performance was the major storyline, but superstars LeBron James and Anthony Davis focused on the other end of the court, where Austin Reaves faced the difficult task of guarding Thunder star Shai Gilgeous -Alexander.
Sixth-year superstar Gilgeous-Alexander is averaging 31.1 points, 5.6 rebounds and 6.5 assists with a league-leading 2.2 steals per game with shooting times of 54 .6/38.3/88.2. And yet, against Reaves and the Lakers on Monday, he managed only 20 points and four assists on 5 of 13 shooting. It was his first performance below 30 points since February 10 and his total lowest points since January 16.
James credited Reaves for his stellar effort against Gilgeous-Alexander, especially with Reaves’ defensive struggles becoming more of an area of focus this season.
“He just rose to the challenge,” James said. “I mean, Shai is obviously one of the best players we have in our league. He was just trying not to put it at the free throw line because that’s also where he gets a lot of his points from. I thought Austin was sensational from start to finish when he was on the floor just trying to contain the ball and forcing Shai and J-Will to take tough shots, Giddey at times. And we just tried to protect it in the background.
Davis, the Lakers’ best defensive player and one of the league’s best on that side of the court, also praised what Reaves did against the Thunder’s MVP candidate.
“Yeah, he did a great job moving his feet, knowing Shai likes to get to his backhand between a little push and get to his middle or get to the lane, uses pump fakes and draws fouls and stuff like that,” Davis said. “So I think we’ve done a good job now of putting it in play, they’re already going to make tough shots, but you don’t want to fight, that would also put it in play now to get things going. So he did a great job starting with him, making it difficult for him and funneling him to our defense and getting some great fights and they missed some shots early. He made some parts late. But AR did a good job.
Davis and James are always the first to congratulate Lakers role players when they excel in a given game, and Reaves certainly did that against the Thunder. It was arguably his best defensive performance of the season, and it came when the Lakers really needed it the most.
Austin Reaves praises D’Angelo Russell
The Lakers were all in good spirits after their win over the Thunder, and Reaves – who impressed defensively – took the time to congratulate Russell on his work on the other end of the line.
“The way he gets his buckets in spurts like that when he’s hot is a beautiful thing to see,” Reaves said of Russell after the win. “If you roll back the tape, as soon as he got the ball, AD and I got up and we knew he was going up even when he passed it. We knew Bron was going to give it back to him and we knew the price was going up and once he let it go it looked good.
“But yeah, if I can get a 4-for-5 and it’s overshadowed by everything else we do, I’ll be the first one to be happy about it.”
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