Everyone is loving Austin Reaves these days, including LeBron James who praised his confident play and increasingly hilarious trash talk.
After the Lakers were able to beat the Bulls two nights ago, LeBron James commented on Austin Reaves making fun of Patrick Beverley by doing a “too small gesture”. The King from Akron was very appreciative of Reaves doing that, saying “AR always got my back”.
The moment he was referring too came after Reaves hit a turnaround jumper over Beverley. This was in response to Beverley giving LeBron the same gesture during a game a few days before.
https://mobile.twitter.com/LakersNation/status/1641263918550228992
Austin Reaves has been essential to the playoff push for LeBron and the Lakers
The Lakers are chasing for a spot in the Play-In Tournament and tonight’s matchup against the Timberwolves will go a long way in deciding whether L.A is able to make it. Pending a collapse from the Clippers or Suns, this is the Lakers’ last matchup against a potential play-in opponent before the regular season ends.
This game will be very important in deciding who can stay in the coveted No. 8. Whatever team can stay in the eighth seed gets two chances to get into the playoffs and is guaranteed at least one home game during the tournament (or in the case they win on the road; they don’t need the play-in home game).
Either team who loses this game will still have a huge chance to get into the play-in but the team that does lose will have to scoreboard watch the rest of the way in addition to playing their games. The Mavs, Jazz, and Thunder games will on the watch board for whoever loses.
Key role player Naz Reid will be out for the Timberwolves for this game as Shams reported that he will miss a chunk of time due to a wrist injury. The Lakers should be fully healthy minus Mo Bamba as LeBron and AD are the only ones on the injury report.
LeBron is reported with right foot soreness (as Buha notes, this is something that has been noted in the last two games; and LeBron has a recent history of being on the injury report just in case he isn’t able to play, even before the recent injury) and AD is probable to play on Friday.
As Lakers Twitter has noted, this is like the 18th “must-win” game for the Lakers. A lot of that is due to how they played before the Westbrook trade. Still, the Lakers have a shot to make the Play-In with this new vamped roster and make some noise in the playoffs. They will have a great shot to make the play-in (at least) if they beat the Timberwolves on Friday.
Check out The Step Back for more news, analysis, opinion and unique basketball coverage. Don’t forget to follow us on Twitter and Instagram and subscribe to our daily email newsletter, The Whiteboard.