Austin Reaves scored a season-high 43 points, leading the Los Angeles Lakers to a 121-116 win over the Detroit Pistons on Sunday, even though Luka Doncic sat out with tightness in his lower back.
Reaves shot 14-of-27 from the field, 4-of-6 from 3-point range and 11-of-11 from the foul line. He also hit a 3-pointer in the third quarter that banked in off the glass. “Honestly, when I stepped back and shot it, I was like, ‘This is some crap Luka would shoot,'” Reaves said. “I didn’t try to bank it in. It went in, so it looks the same on the stat sheet.”
The win extended the Lakers’ winning streak to five and improved their record to 9-2. They did it without Doncic, the NBA’s No. 1 scorer at 40.1 points per game, and against a Pistons team ranked No. 1 in defense.
Lakers spread the scoring
Collin Sexton came off the bench to score 17 points. “Guys have to step up when someone’s averaging 40,” Sexton said. “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.”
Ziaire Williams added 17 points off the bench, and Walker Kessler posted 12 points, 16 rebounds and 3 blocks. Quentin Grimes scored 10 of his 12 points in the first quarter, when the Lakers took a 38-14 lead.
It was the second game Doncic has missed this season, and the Lakers are 2-0 without him. Los Angeles continues its 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.
Detroit closes the gap
The Pistons (6-3) chipped away at the lead. They outscored the Lakers by eight from the 2:30 mark of the third quarter until the 9:14 mark of the fourth, and they drew within one at 90-89 while Reaves rested on the bench.
Reaves had already played 28 of 33 minutes when he exited, and Redick explained why he did not return him 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 downplayed concerns about Doncic’s back being a lingering injury, so the 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 did not take much credit for his shots, including the banked-in 3 and a first-quarter make when he shot the ball over the corner of the backboard while falling out of bounds along the baseline. “I was a lucky player tonight,” Reaves said.