The Los Angeles Lakers got back on track with a winning performance over the Cleveland Cavaliers on Saturday night, getting major contributions throughout their roster. Third-year guard Austin Reaves had a particularly productive night off the bench, collecting 15 points and 10 assists in 32 minutes of play.
Reaves was the only player with double figure assist numbers and he was aided by efficient nights from all three of the Lakers big men in Anthony Davis, Christian Wood and Jaxson Hayes. Davis finished with 32 points and 13 rebounds on 13-for-20 shooting. Wood had 13 points on 5-for-7 from the field while Hayes finished with 10 points on a perfect 5-for-5 night.
Reaves has made a habit of doing the little things on both ends of the floor for the Lakers, and that hasn’t changed with his move to the bench. He spoke about his focus in each individual game and how he feels he helps L.A.’s chances each night, via Spectrum SportsNet:
“You go into every game trying to make winning plays, regardless of what it is. Taking charges, getting steals, diving on the floor for loose balls, getting extra possessions and offensive rebounds. It doesn’t matter, you want to do those things to help your team be successful. Tonight we had a couple of those. The team did a really good job of that tonight and we got a good win.”
The Lakers guard credited the bigs for their work against the two-big front of the Cavaliers and how they were able to find success.
“They play two bigs most of the game and they make it tough down in the paint. Especially just trying to get the ball to AD early, Jaxson did a really good job corner cutting when they kind of tried to tilt from the bottom side help on AD. He was huge tonight, played a great game. I just try to play the game the right way as always.”
Whether or not it shows up on the stat sheet, Reaves consistently makes winning plays and helps the Lakers in a variety of ways. On Saturday, he was asked to be a distributor and collected 10 assists in the process. Other nights, he’ll be asked to be a scorer. Regardless, he’s ready for whatever task is needed each night.
Christian Wood adjusting to new role
Christian Wood is playing perhaps his smallest role as an NBA player, and while it is an adjustment for him, he is excited to provide whatever the Lakers need from him.
“I’m not playing a role I played the last four or five years, which was being a high-usage guy, taking a lot of shots,” Wood said after the Dallas loss. “Playing this role player role, where I’m trying … if the team needs help with rebounds, I have to try and help rebound. And whatever they need to do, I’m there to do. Some nights, they’re going to run plays for me, some nights they’re not. I just got to be prepared for that.”
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