Lakers hold off Clippers after Austin Reaves injures calf
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This is how it’s going to be, the Lakers in a fight every game and those fights have physical and emotional costs.
Nine minutes into their game against the Clippers, Austin Reaves vanished, disappearing to the locker room because of an injury that no one saw after a play that wasn’t clear. An MRI exam will determine whether the problem is merely soreness or if it’s worse — giving the Lakers another mountain to climb in a stretch that’s been full of them.
Tuesday against Dallas, Luka Doncic faced his former team over an emotionally exhausting 48 minutes in which the Lakers couldn’t exhale until the finish.
Thursday, they hosted Minnesota, working their way through a night when they missed shots at the rim, from deep and from the free-throw line before willing their way to win.
And Friday, on short rest and shorthanded, they played the Clippers, a team whose success has been built on the backs of the same high-motor, tough-minded basketball that the Lakers have used to rise up the ranks in the West.
Lakers star LeBron James referenced comments by ex-Cavaliers teammate Channing Frye in explaining why Timberwolves’ Anthony Edwards may not want to be the face of the NBA.
They entered this fight without Rui Hachimura, who suffered a knee strain against Minnesota. And they exited it without Reaves, whom they lost after just one shift.
It wouldn’t matter.
“We showed our character today,” Doncic said.
Without Reaves and Hachimura, it was Gabe Vincent and Jarred Vanderbilt fighting Kawhi Leonard for real estate, Dorian Finney-Smith trying to stay in front of James Harden. It was two-way players Trey Jemison III and Jordan Goodwin winning their minutes because of toughness and grit.
None of it was easy, but for the fifth straight time and third in a row at home, the Lakers found enough, winning 106-102.
Doncic scored 31 and LeBron James had 28 points, but it was the Lakers’ bench that carried them in the little things, Vanderbilt, Jemison, Vincent and Goodwin all finishing at least plus-11 during their minutes.
“They gave us life in this game,” Doncic said. “They push [us] to be better. … They showed us how we need to play. So without them, we don’t win.”
Jemison, a 25-year-old center who has played 10 games since signing a two-way deal, has yet to appear in a loss. He said the bench groups the Lakers have deployed have been game-changers.
“I love it. It’s that aggressiveness that, just no backing down, you know what I’m saying? You come play us, you can fight for this win. Literally fight for this win,” Jemison said. “So when teams know that, hey, no easy game, that’s just huge for us. Letting Luka and Bron kill and let us do our dirty work. I love that.”
They’re going to need that mentality as the Lakers, at least in the short term, won’t be at full strength.
Hachimura, who met with Lakers doctors Friday, was diagnosed with a left knee strain. He’ll be reevaluated in a week. Reaves likely will miss time too.
“He was experiencing some tightness in the calf, some soreness, was held out as a precaution,” coach JJ Redick said.
Calf injuries are notoriously tricky, with Doncic missing approximately seven weeks after suffering a calf strain on Christmas while with the Mavericks.
Doncic still is getting his legs back. He hit two monster threes in the fourth quarter to salvage a night when he shot nine of 22. He played on his 26th birthday, the Lakers putting two golden “7” balloons in his locker along with Slovenian cookies and juice, capping a year in which Doncic played in his first NBA Finals and got traded in a shocking move.
“It’s all good. I’m happy. It’s all that matters,” he said. “I have a little daughter. My family’s good. The people around me are good. So that’s everything I want.”
The Clippers, who led by as many as 10, forced a pair of turnovers in the final minute to give themselves a chance, but Bogdan Bogdanovic’s open three-point attempt to cut the score to one rattled out, the Lakers grabbing the rebound and the win.
The Lakers are a half-game behind Memphis for third and a game behind Denver for second. They face the Clippers again for the final time in the regular season Sunday at Crypto.com Arena.
“It takes a while for a group to develop an identity,” Redick said. “It takes a while for a group to develop a collective mentality. There have been a lot of things that have happened this season. I think our group, our ecosystem was created and it’s been sustained since mid-January. And there was flashes of it throughout the early parts of the year. But I like who we are right now.”
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