The Los Angeles Lakers received positive news ahead of Game 5 against the Houston Rockets, with the return of Austin Reaves after missing weeks of games due to injury.
The starting guard suffered a season-ending oblique injury four weeks ago in a game against the Oklahoma City Thunder. However, he didn’t return as a starter; at first, he came off the bench for the first half of the game.
In the second half, JJ Redick and the coaching staff decided to start Reaves in a pivotal home game where they could’ve closed out the Rockets. Unfortunately, things fell apart for the Lakers, and they couldn’t achieve a second-half comeback to take down the Rockets.
Houston claimed the game 99-93 and now gets a Game 6 at home to potentially tie the series, after the Lakers led 3-0.
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In his return, Reaves shot 4-for-16, including 2-for-8 from three-point range. More than half of his points came from the free-throw line, where he was 12-of-13. He also dished out six assists and hauled in four rebounds in the losing effort.
Critics and fans expressed frustration and/or delight over the Lakers’ situation in an X post announcing the final score and in other random X comments.
“I swear everytime Austin reaves comes back the team plays like [expletive],” a commenter wrote.
“I already said this bring back Austin in an elimination game may ruin the chemistry and I was right. Bringing back Austin Reeves may be the reason they lose the series … he’s not good defensively so if he’s not cooking offensively it severely hurts the team,” another individual suggested.
“It’s time to have serious conversation about trading Reaves this offseason we just are not gonna win a championship keeping this man on our team,” someone wrote.
Former NBA player Jeff Teague shared a similar view in a recent podcast segment, suggesting it was due to Reaves’ return to the lineup.
“I told y’all that as soon as they said Austin Reaves was playing in game 5, I got the Rockets,” Teague said, also mentioning that Reaves shot 4-for-16 in the game and that Luke Kennard didn’t get many touches.
In postgame remarks, Reaves called it a “grind” for him to return to the lineup finally and suggested he was doing everything possible to be available for his team. However, he’ll need to find his shot rhythm quickly, or the Lakers could face a surprising Game 7 after holding such a commanding series lead without Reaves.
“Wish I played a little better, wish I made a couple more shots,” he told reporters of his return.
Game 6 arrives on Friday night in Los Angeles, with plenty of focus on LeBron James, but also on Reaves, who the Lakers will need to decide on this offseason. He’s expected to become an unrestricted free agent, and other teams are keeping an eye on how he performs in this return to the playoffs.
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