LOS ANGELES – While the Los Angeles Lakers certainly had much to think about following their 116-102 loss to the Los Angeles Clippers, that wasn’t the only thing on their minds. Austin Reaves seemingly suffered an injury late in the fourth quarter of the Lakers’ loss and did not return to the game.
After the apparent injury, Austin Reaves did not leave the bench at all and go back to the locker room, but he didn’t return to the game either. But with the Clippers leading the Lakers by double digits, there may not have been a reason for him to have to check back.
In any case, Lakers head coach JJ Redick did confirm that the play, with Reaves landing awkwardly on the court, involved his knee.
“I believe he banged knees,” Redick said. “We’ll wait and see how he feels. Sometimes that could be an hour thing, or a day, I don’t know.”
But all appears to be fine via Reaves himself. The Lakers next game is at home on Tuesday against the Washington Wizards, a game that Reaves plans to play in, as per Jovan Buha of The Athletic.
Reaves, who has had a relatively strong start to the month, had a much quieter game against the Clippers as opposed to the career-high 38 points he dropped on the Brooklyn Nets on Friday.
He finished with 14 points, two rebounds and three assists. He shot efficiently (67 percent), but he only took six shots. He also turned the ball over five times. It’s byproduct of both Reaves’ style of play and his adjustment to a higher usage.
Following the game, Redick gave praise to the Clippers’ defense for making things difficult for the Lakers to get into any kind of rhythm offensively.
“Against great teams, you make mistakes, you don’t get a loose ball, you don’t get the defensive rebound, they make you pay every time,” Redick said. “We did some really good things in the second half, but that’s a real defense. They have a real defense and they’re physical.”
The Lakers will return to Crypto.com Arena for two games against the Wizards and the Boston Celtics, respectively, before heading out on a five-game road trip to end the month. They will then return to Intuit Dome for another clash against the Clippers upon coming back to Los Angeles to start February.