Inside a locker room, geography matters and Friday night in Denver, Austin Reaves was in the big seat.
Using the space typically assigned to LeBron James inside the Nuggets’ visiting locker room, Reaves sat closest to the showers, players passing him on their way in and out after they’d fumbled a chance to stun Denver.
Cam Reddish, Christian Koloko, Jordan Goodwin — each one passed by the space only to briefly stop and get a quick word of encouragement from the lone Lakers starter who played Friday night.
They were fully under the watch of Reaves, the unquestioned third member of the Lakers’ big three who nearly carried his team minus James and Luka Doncic to a win in Denver on the second night of a back-to-back minus 60% of its 10-man rotation.
Read more:Austin Reaves' 37-point effort not enough as Lakers fall to Denver in wild finish
But his 37 points, 13 assists, eight rebounds and four steals weren’t enough — numbers so special that they’ve been accomplished only seven other times, Reaves joining Doncic, James, Michael Jordan, Larry Bird, Pete Maravich, Bernard King and Kenny Anderson as the select few to have done it.
Earlier this year, minus James and Doncic, Reaves scored 45 points with seven rebounds and seven assists, numbers equaled only 25 times in Lakers history by a list of the organization’s greats. Elgin Baylor did it 10 times. Kobe Bryant did it six. Jerry West had at least 45-7-7 four times. Magic Johnson did it once. And then there’s Reaves.
“Looks weird when you see my name up there,” Reaves said after that game against the Indiana Pacers.
Maybe it’s time to stop being so surprised.
For what it’s worth, Reaves isn’t that shocked, having been confident enough to tell people around him he was going to matter for the Lakers as an undrafted rookie on a two-way contract after one day of minicamp.
“I’ve weirdly been confident for a long time,” Reaves said Friday night, his feet and ankles soaking in ice. “It’s just being on the stage for the world to see. But I tell you all the time, I just try to play the game the right way. And when shots fall, it looks good. And when shots don’t fall, everybody’s ready to kill me. Everybody in the locker room did what they had to do to win. And unfortunately, we didn’t get it done.”
The Lakers, in all honestly, probably should have.
They led by three in the final minute after back-to-back steals by Reaves led to transition points, starting with one in which he ripped the ball away from annual most valuable player candidate Nikola Jokic.
The second steal led to a Dalton Knecht dunk, with Knecht landing scarily on his back and head after he lost his grip and slipped off the rim. JJ Redick ran to check on Knecht as Denver called timeout and was late back into his huddle.
The Nuggets came out and attacked Koloko, who rarely plays, Jokic quickly scoring and drawing a foul to tie the game.
“I didn’t have time to really get us the right substitutions and matchups that I would have wanted,” Redick said. “And that’s not a knock on CK, but I just kind of put him in a tough spot knowing that Jokic was going to go quick.”
After Reaves’ jumper rimmed out, Denver created an open Jamal Murray three off a screen from Jokic, and like he’s done multiple times before, the Denver guard hit the game’s biggest shot.
“Losing sucks,” Reaves said. “But I’m happy with what these guys in the locker room did tonight.”
As the Lakers head back to Los Angeles on a four-game losing streak, Reaves’ last two games are one of the few slivers of encouragement after the 26-year-old-guard shook off any rust from a two-game absence because of a calf strain this month. He’s also been dealing with right wrist pain and wore a large ice pack on his shooting arm after he scored 28 against Milwaukee on Thursday.
Friday, James was courtside in Sacramento watching his son Bryce and Sierra Canyon win a state title while he recovers from a groin strain. Starters Jaxson Hayes and Rui Hachimura also were not with the team because of knee injuries. Doncic, who scored 45 against the Bucks, didn’t play because of calf and ankle injury management. Key bench players Gabe Vincent (knee) and Dorian Finney-Smith (ankle) also sat out.
Reaves acknowledged all the absences left him wondering whether he should get one too, with only James having played more minutes for the Lakers this season.
“They told me to go play, so I go play,” Reaves said afterward.
If the Lakers were Reaves’ team Friday, that isn’t expected be the case much longer. The trade for Doncic ensured he’d be the team’s primary creator for the remainder of his contract — and beyond, if the Lakers can keep him. James also will be back to dominate possessions as he’s having an All-NBA-type season, meaning Reaves will be taking a step back and tasked with making the biggest adjustment of the three.
Reaves is a critical part of all that, and finding lanes for him to lead like this — whether he’s in the big seat or not — is a major task for the final month of the regular season.
“Austin has done a great job throughout his career of just like figuring it out. And you don’t always figure it out in a week or a month,” Redick said before Thursday’s game, adding: “There’s a lot of stuff that has happened over the last six weeks. He’s been phenomenal this season. We have a lot of confidence in him as a player. We have a lot of confidence in the duo of him and Luca together. And X-and-O-wise, he’s going to play on ball. He’s going to play off ball. We’ll have a ton of opportunities once we get LeBron back. Those two guys have such great synergy and chemistry. They’re incredibly intelligent players and really understand how to play off of each other.
“And then, I think you’ve seen it when we’ve been whole, the guys have really learned how to play with Luka. And we’ve gotten some good stuff when we’ve been organized.”
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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
