Austin Reaves had a third consecutive 20-point game in the Lakers’ 111-118 loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves, which was the fourth LA loss in a row. The team is 1-5 since winning the In-Season Tournament, a major concern of Reaves who dismissed his own form due to the Lakers string of losses in a post-game interview.“I don’t care about stats. I don’t care about all the notoriety and all that stuff. I just wanna win games.”
Reaves had a rough start to the season but has been revitalized since being moved to the bench. He’s averaging 20.0 points, 4.3 rebounds, and 5.8 assists over the last six games, a stretch in which the Lakers have lost five games.
The on-court struggles are making it hard for Reaves to enjoy his success, as the Lakers have fallen out of the top six and are currently 15-14 as the 10th seed.
Darvin Ham Compared Austin Reaves To Manu Ginobili
After the Lakers decided to move Reaves to the bench early in the season, many questioned Darvin Ham for benching a playoff starter who delivered as the Lakers’ third option at the end of last season. Ham explained it by saying everyone knows Reaves is a starter quality player, likening his sixth-man role to the one Manu Ginobili played for the Spurs.
“Everyone knew Manu [Ginobili] was a starter – it was more about balancing the units. [Austin] still played 35 minutes. His minutes weren’t going to go down; he’s gonna finish the game. He was huge down the stretch.”
These comments were made in the second week of November, and Reaves hasn’t let Ham down. He has been one of the beacons of consistent offensive production on a team desperate for more players to show this level of consistency.
D’Angelo Russell Is One Of The Reason For LA’s Struggles
D’Angelo Russell is one of the Lakers’ starters and justified his role after strong early-season performances and an injury to Gabe Vincent. Though Russell had 17 points against the Wolves, he’s been a major problem for the offense with poor on-ball decision-making and shooting struggles. Given that D’Lo isn’t an ace defender, the Lakers can’t afford for him to have offensive stinkers so often.
He’s averaging 10.0 points, 2.8 rebounds, and 6.3 assists over the last six games. His overall season numbers show mostly a positive effect on the Lakers’ offense, having a positive on-off rating at +3.3. It pales in comparison to his +12.7 last season which justified the contract extension he received in the summer. The Lakers as a team defense have struggled with D’Lo on the court all season long. They can live with that if D’Lo is scoring, but it’s another season riddled with inconsistencies for the former All-Star.
With the Lakers considering a trade for him, he has a short time to prove to LA that he is valuable enough as a versatile combo guard who can fit into almost any lineup as a spark plug. If he’s not scoring, he’s not useful to LA, so he needs to find the kind of form Reaves is on right now to help the Lakers make it back to the playoffs and contend for a title.
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