The odds were against them, but the Los Angeles Lakers managed to rally together to beat the Miami Heat despite not having LeBron James or Anthony Davis.
It was a total team effort, with multiple role players stepping up and making plays throughout the course of the game to deliver a much-needed win. However, the biggest play of the night came in the final minute when Austin Reaves made a risky pass that somehow got through to Russell Westbrook for a layup and foul.
After the game, Reaves admitted not much went into the decision other than he saw Westbrook open for a brief moment.
“Well, I don’t know [laughs]. I saw that Russ was open, somehow open, so I threw it to him. I was counting from one to five, got to four and I was gonna call timeout. But luckily Russ was open and we got something,” Reaves said.
Head coach Darvin Ham praised Reaves for the read, even declaring that he would be his all-time inbound passer. Reaves took the compliment in stride and was happy that his coach has faith in him to make those kinds of plays.
“It’s great. If we win, I’ll take that every game if it’s a win. It means a lot for him to have the trust in me to put me in that position to make the right play and sometimes they’re pretty close.”
Reaves has a knack for making winning plays when he’s on the floor, and his growth as a playmaker this season has been exciting to watch. With another win under their belt, Reaves and the Lakers have to be feeling better about themselves and their playoff chances.
Darvin Ham reveals Russell Westbrook wasn’t first option on inbounds plays
Often time, inbounds plays have multiple options but interestingly enough, Ham revealed that the pass to Westbrook wasn’t the team’s first option on the play.
“Nah, that was like the eighth option, and that was a total read,” Ham said. “Pat Bev coming over the top, Thomas back screening but kind of getting out of the way, Russ actually screening for Dennis and then popping out wide and Dennis kind of coming up.
“We wanted to get Dennis the ball and just clear it out and just let him try to blow by and go down hill. But Austin saw fit and made the right read. Russ saw that they were lifted high out of the paint, the paint was wide open so it was a smart basketball play by him just going backdoor and just a smart, fearless pass right on the dot by Austin. That’s what he’s in that position with the ball in his hands.”
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