Monday’s matchup against the Atlanta Hawks could not have started any uglier for Los Angeles Lakers guard Austin Reaves, as he was emphatically dunked on by Jalen Johnson within the first 20 seconds of the game.
Johnson pulled off a Dunk of the Year contender, taking advantage of Reaves' ill-advised attempt to draw a charge.
“I think that might be the first time I've ever been like, really dunked on. So I made it a really long time without being really athletic picking my spots getting out of the way. Tried to take a charge. I don't know. Super athletic kid. He got one. The longer I play the game I'm sure it's gonna happen again. So, ain't too worried about it,” said Reaves when the Los Angeles Times' Dan Woike asked him about the play.
“The whole sequence, that being the start, them kinda having that run. I'm sitting there like, ‘S**t, that's what started it all.' But we responded really well,” continued Reaves, who finished with 12 points, six rebounds and four assists in the Lakers' 136-105 obliteration of the Hawks.
Austin Reaves bailed out by Anthony Edwards
It's commendable to see Reaves take the dunk in good spirits, although it's likely easier to do so when your team ultimately dominates the game. Had the Lakers lost to the Hawks, Reaves' tone in media interviews might have been different.
Fortunately for Austin Reaves, Johnson's poster dunk wasn't the top dunk of the night in the entire league. On most days, Johnson's dunk would have been the standout play and the viral moment that circulated on social media.
Instead, earlier in the night Anthony Edwards threw down an even more impressive dunk on John Collins of the Utah Jazz. As bad as Johnson's poster on Reaves was, Edwards postering Collins was 10 times worse.
So all in all, Reaves can shake off this poster dunk and enjoy the fact that the Lakers moved past the Golden State Warriors back into the No. 9 slot in the Western Conference. It looks like these two teams will duke it out the rest of the season and eventually face off in the play-in tournament.