Austin Reaves scored a season-high 43 points as the Los Angeles Lakers beat the Detroit Pistons 121-116 on Sunday, extending their winning streak to five despite Luka Doncic sitting out with tightness in his lower back.
Reaves finished 14-of-27 from the field, including 4-of-6 from three-point range, and went 11-of-11 from the foul line. One of his biggest makes was a three-pointer in the third quarter that ricocheted off the glass and through the hoop.
“Honestly, when I stepped back and shot it, I was like, ‘This is some bulls— Luka would shoot,'” Reaves said.
He shrugged in disbelief afterwards, explaining: “I didn’t try to bank it in. It went in, so it looks the same in the stat sheet.”
The Lakers (9-2) played with the same confidence they have shown all season, even without Doncic, the NBA’s No. 1 scorer at 40.1 points per game. They faced a Pistons team (6-3) ranked No. 1 in defence.
“Guys have to step up when someone’s averaging 40,” said Lakers guard Collin Sexton, who scored 17 points off the bench. “You got to fill the shoes and be ready to impact winning. And I felt like we did that tonight, and AR picked those shoes up and he wore them.”
This was the second game Doncic has missed this season, both due to back tightness and in a back-to-back scenario. The Lakers are now 2-0 without him. They continue their four-game road trip in Atlanta on Monday.
“I thought AR’s decision-making, his aggression, his ability to just consistently touch the paint and get downhill was fantastic tonight,” Lakers coach JJ Redick said of Reaves.
Five Lakers scored in double figures. Reaves and Sexton were joined by Ziaire Williams (17 points off the bench), Walker Kessler (12 points, 16 rebounds and 3 blocks) and Quentin Grimes, who scored 10 of his 12 points in the first quarter as the Lakers built a 38-14 lead.
Pistons close the gap
Detroit fought back, outscoring Los Angeles by eight between the 2:30 mark of the third quarter and the 9:14 mark of the fourth. Reaves was resting on the bench during that stretch, and the Pistons cut the deficit to 90-89.
Reaves had already played 28 of 33 minutes when he left the game, and Redick explained why he did not bring him back sooner.
“You got to allow the players to play through it,” Redick said. “And the same thing with the star players, you got to allow them to get their rest. And if you start just overreacting in-game and saying, ‘I got to get this guy back in, I got to get this guy back in,’ it’s just chaos. And we’re trying to create consistency for our players.”
Redick played down any concern about Doncic’s back being a lingering injury, meaning the Lakers’ starting backcourt will likely be back together in Atlanta.
“I mean, Luka game, Austin game: Lakers win,” Kessler said. “I don’t know if it really feels different. They’re both incredible players to play alongside, and they hit some really, really tough shots.”
Reaves, however, was quick to play down his own contribution. Asked about his banked-in three in the third quarter and a first-quarter make, when he shot the ball over the corner of the backboard while falling out of bounds along the baseline, he kept it modest.
“I was a lucky player tonight,” Reaves said.