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Alexander: Lakers’ role-players carry the day against Pacers

February 9, 2025

LOS ANGELES – At first glance, the Lakers’ appointment Saturday afternoon against Indiana represented the calm before the storm.

No Luka Doncic, yet. No LeBron James, resting a sore ankle. No Mark Williams, the center obtained from Charlotte having been listed as unavailable with the notation, “(trade pending),” with no confirmation but a suspicion that the hangup was on the Hornets’ end of the deal.

Monday against Utah, then, is expected to be the great unveiling of the Luka-LeBron combination. Which meant ESPN went to the trouble of adding Saturday’s game to its schedule only to see it become a playground for complementary players, understudies and G-League callups.

Maybe so. But boy, did those others have fun in the national TV limelight.

Austin Reaves, the Lakers’ featured player on this afternoon, had a career game in the Lakers’ 124-117 victory: 45 points, seven rebounds, seven assists, three steals, 4 for 9 from 3-point territory and 13 for 13 from the foul line, this after some question whether he’d be able to play with an elbow that he’d banged on the floor against Golden State the other night.

But this was a game where a lot of people stepped up. Rui Hachimura finished with 24 points and nine rebounds, knocking down a pair of 3-pointers and also perfect from the foul line (6 for 6). Jaxson Hayes was 4 for 4 from the field and had 12 rebounds, Gabe Vincent had seven assists and Dorian Finney-Smith six. Even Jordan Goodwin scored in double figures, finishing with 10 points one day after signing a two-way contract and moving up from the South Bay Lakers’ roster to the big club for, at least, the day.

It was a rousing start – the Lakers led 44-22 after a period and by as many as 25 midway through the second quarter – and a nervous finish after Indiana pulled within five with 1:10 to play.

But it was also a statement, if an unexpected one: There are a lot of role players on the Lakers’ roster capable of asserting themselves when necessary.

“This is a game for guys like me or guys like J. Good … (or) like Doe (Dorian Finney-Smith),” Hayes said. “All of us come out and just play our games and, like, just play, like, aggressive. I mean, that was a defensive game.

“I feel like just a lot of people forget about the rest of us guys on the team. Like, I mean, we have a bunch of guys who can go. Everyone on this team can go. Everyone is really talented, like a smart basketball player. So I mean, I feel like (a game) like tonight just kind of goes and shows everyone like what all the rest of us can do.”

And maybe the effects will linger, even after Doncic and Williams are cleared to play, LeBron returns and the team is back at full strength. Too many capable players can never be a bad thing.

“I think we’re just trying to build this connection,” Vincent said. “You know, I think JJ (Redick, the coach) mentioned the connection throughout the year and you’re starting to really see it, I think, now, especially when you have key guys that are out and we kind of just have a next man up mentality. Guys are kind of there for each other. It builds a lot of trust with one another.

“It was great. It was well timed, I guess, for us to see where we are. It’s a good check point to see how we’re doing with our foundation of who we are as a team and who we are as an organization at this point.”

And more than anything, this was a measuring stick for Reaves, accustomed to being the No. 3 threat on a team of stars but given the keys to the vehicle on this afternoon.

“I think the biggest growth for him has been his leadership,” Redick said. “So I’ve challenged him on it. I mean, he wants that responsibility. He’s accepted it. He’s embraced the challenge. I joked with him before the game. I said, ‘LeBron talk to you?’ He said, ‘Yeah, Bron called me last night. He told me he was gonna be out. (And) we probably need a 38, eight and eight game from you.’

“Forty five, seven and seven will do. He played awesome.”

It’ll do?

Consider that in the storied history of the Lakers, the only guys before this to have a 45-7-7 game were Elgin Baylor, Jerry West, Magic Johnson, Kobe Bryant and LeBron James. In other words four Hall of Famers and a fifth who is almost certainly bound for the Springfield, Mass., shrine.

And, now, a sixth who, in essence, staked it all on a basketball career when he was a teenager in Arkansas, landed with the game’s most glamorous franchise as an undrafted player and eventually worked his way into a position of trust.

“You know, the path that I took is not conventional,” Reaves said. “There’s probably only a handful of people that thought I would be in this position, if any. And it wasn’t it wasn’t really the popular thing to do to continue to chase my dream. You know, I didn’t really do anything in high school but go to the gym.

“I know I had teachers in high school telling me I needed to figure out a plan B because plan A wasn’t going to work. I’ve been told that a million times. And I maybe wasn’t smart enough to understand that because, you know, it’s a very small percentage that makes it to this level. So I was probably naive when they were telling me that and was like, ‘Ah, screw y’all. I’m gonna figure it out.’ “

You think any of his teachers were watching Saturday?

“They all love me now,” he said.

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Orange County Register

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Alexander: Lakers’ role-players carry the day against Pacers

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