Austin Reaves Says Execution, Not Effort, Doomed Short-Handed Lakers in 122-108 Defeat to Trail Blazers
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The Los Angeles Lakers dropped to 2-2 on the young season after a 122-108 loss to the Portland Trail Blazers on Monday night at Crypto.com Arena.
Austin Reaves supplied 41 points, giving him 92 in a 30-hour span, but the Lakers were without Luka Doncic, LeBron James, Marcus Smart, Gabe Vincent, Jaxson Hayes, Maxi Kleber and Adou Thiero. With only nine available players, head coach Darvin Ham relied heavily on Reaves, the club’s only fully healthy primary ball-handler.
“I’m tired, but this is why we play the game,” Reaves said afterward. “We played hard enough to win; we just didn’t execute as good as we needed to.”
The defeat came less than 24 hours after Reaves erupted for a career-high 51 points in a 127-120 road win over the Sacramento Kings. The guard admitted that adrenaline from Sunday’s performance made for a restless night. “I didn’t sleep much,” he noted. “I was talking to my brother at 3 a.m. like, ‘What the hell just happened?’ It’s not as sweet when you don’t win.”
Reaves stressed the mental toll of back-to-back games with a depleted roster. “It starts with mentally trying to get yourself ready,” he explained. “We had short rotations, but that’s what we signed up to do.”
Los Angeles has a day off before hosting the Minnesota Timberwolves on Wednesday. The team hopes to regain several injured players, though Reaves is expected to remain the focal point of the offense.
Source: Lakers Nation
