Locked On Lakers - Daily Podcast On The Los Angeles Lakers
Sports:Basketball
Did Austin Reaves Break His Slump? Plus, Christian Wood's Surpising Defense for the Lakers.
2023-11-03
There is still a buzz around the Lakers following Wednesday's incredibly exciting 130-125 OT win over the Clippers at the Crypt. It was a game that featured big comebacks on both sides, incredible performances by each team's stars, big moments for role players, and—thankfully from the Lakers' perspective—the first real moments of productivity from Austin Reaves this season.
It came after arguably his worst half of basketball as a pro, where he missed four of five shots and tied a career high with five turnovers (that's his career high for a game, not a half) and somewhat ironically, had the Lakers not been so shorthanded on the evening, missing Taurean Prince, Gabe Vincent, Rui Hachimura, Jalen Hood-Schifino and Jared Vanderbilt, there's a non-zero chance that Darvin Ham might have put Reaves on the bench.
Instead, he was out there by necessity, and finally found a groove about halfway through the third quarter, and remained a key contributor through the rest of the game, including big moments in OT.
Basketball is a team game, and it's impossible to pin performance of a team on one player, but if there is one guy who has negatively impacted the team through play below expectations (as opposed to simply not being available) it's Reaves in a walk. Is this the beginning of a turnaround? Hard to say. The Lakers head out on the road, and we'll all need to see some sustained quality play before declaring the slump over... but clearly he looked like he found some mojo after a few good plays. There was much more energy and confidence.
Meanwhile, winning that game, shorthanded, changes the way you feel about the first five games of the season. Now they're 3-2, having played five playoff contenders (if you think Orlando can make it in the East) four of the West's best teams, playing through injury. They've shown grit, and guys like Christian Wood have bought in big early.
Wood, in fact, has been so solid defensively that those lineups some (including your hosts) thought wouldn't be sustainable -- LeBron, Davis and Wood -- have been phenomenal from a net rating standpoint. Some of that is perhaps underestimating the matchup problems the Lakers could create with that trio... but a lot is that Wood has just been way better than his reputation as a defender. Because it hasn't been about his scoring.
HOSTS: Andy and Brian Kamenetzky
SEGMENT 1: Austin Reaves has a bounce back game. Is he actually back for real?
SEGMENT 2: Does Wednesday's result make you feel better about the group? It does seem to change the vibes, and a lot of what we have five games in are vibes.
SEGMENT 3: Wood has been a great surprise and fit, and it has zero to do with scoring.
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