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Austin Reaves’ career-high 45 points lead limited Lakers past Pacers

February 9, 2025

Austin Reaves #15 of the Lakers controls the ball against Ben Sheppard #26 of the Indiana Pacers in the first half of a NBA basketball game at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles on Saturday, Feb. 8, 2025. (Photo by Keith Birmingham, Orange County Register/ SCNG)

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LOS ANGELES — When there appeared to be a slight possibility that Luka Doncic would make his Lakers debut Saturday afternoon against the Indiana Pacers, the matchup immediately became a must-see game.

National reporters made plans to travel to Southern California in anticipation of Doncic’s debut. ESPN announced on Wednesday that it was broadcasting Saturday’s game, which would’ve been the first time Doncic and LeBron James shared the floor as Lakers teammates.

But it didn’t come to fruition, with Doncic remaining sidelined because of a strained left calf injury that he suffered on Dec. 25 that he’s expected to return from in Monday’s home game against the Utah Jazz.

And Saturday became even less star-studded when the Lakers announced Saturday morning that James also wasn’t going to be available because of left ankle soreness.

So when all of the attention turned to the Lakers’ game against the Pacers, what was witnessed was Austin Reaves having the best scoring game of his career and leading the Lakers to a 124-117 victory at Crypto.com Arena for their fifth straight victory.

Reaves scored a career-high 45 points Saturday – the first 40-point game of his career – to go with seven assists and seven rebounds.

“I joked with him before the game,” coach JJ Redick recalled. “I said, ‘Did Bron talk to you?’ He said, ‘Yeah, Bron called me [Friday] night. Told me he’s gonna be out.’ I said, ‘We probably need a 38, 8 and 8 game from you.’ 45, 7 and 7 will do. That’ll do. He played awesome.”

The fourth-year guard, whose previous career high was the 38 points he scored in the Jan. 17 win over the Brooklyn Nets, crossed the 40-point threshold with a running layup over Obi Toppin’s outstretched arm for his 41st points to give the Lakers a 115-103 lead late in the fourth.

He made another layup less than a minute later to reach 43.

And with the Pacers (29-22) fouling late, Reaves sealed the victory for the Lakers (31-19) with a pair of free throws to reach 45, giving the Lakers back-to-back 40-point performances.

James scored 42 points in the Lakers’ win over the Golden State Warriors on Thursday.

Reaves became the seventh player in Lakers history to record at least 45 points, seven rebounds and seven assists in a game, joining James, Kobe Bryant, Magic Johnson, Jerry West and Elgin Baylor.

“It’s surreal because like you said, I grew up a Kobe fan, huge Kobe fan, so I was automatically a Laker fan,” Reaves said. “So just to be able to, put the uniform on and go out there and compete and then, like you said, to have a couple of those games to where my names in with those guys is special. It’s something that I won’t take for granted.”

Reaves entered Saturday as questionable because of a bruised left elbow that he suffered during a hard fall on Thursday, with real doubts about whether he’d play.

“Once you get in the moment of the game, feel the atmosphere adrenaline starts pumping, then that’s when it becomes easier,” Reaves said. “But before I woke up [Saturday] morning, it was sore all over, elbow especially. And I think they got to know it like 60 on the clock if you’re in or out. And I was walking off at 60:05, and my trainer looked at me and was like ‘out or in?’

Reaves added: “And I was like let’s do it. It’s tough, but like I said, once you get out there and start playing, then adrenaline kicks in and you feel better.”

And the Lakers were significantly better for Reaves, who wore a white sleeve on his non-shooting arm, deciding to play through the injury.

Saturday’s victory was the Lakers’ fifth consecutive, one off from their season-best mark of their six-game winning streak in November, and their 11th in their last 13 games.

Rui Hachimura had 24 points and nine rebounds. Gabe Vincent added 12 points and seven assists.

Recently signed two-way guard Jordan Goodwin, who most recently played for the organization’s South Bay G League affiliate, had 10 points and four rebounds in his Lakers debut.

“Just very grateful, very grateful,” Goodwin said. “I just want to thank God for getting me back healthy. Want to thank South Bay for getting me ready to play back on the NBA stage and things like that. And credit to the Lakers for making the callup. And thanks to JJ for giving me an opportunity to go out there and play. So it’s kind of felt good being back out [there].”

The Pacers, who were without starting center Myles Turner (strained cervical) were led by Pascal Siakam’s 23 points, six rebounds, four assists and two steals. Tyrese Haliburton had 19 points and nine assists.

The Lakers got off to a strong start offensively, scoring 44 first-quarter points, with Reaves scoring 14 of them to take a 22-point lead going into the second.

“I started the first quarter and made five shots in a row,” Reaves said. “Anytime that happens, it’s a good feeling. It’s just the atmosphere that we’re creating as a team, the culture. Any timeout in the situation, the guys on the bench, LeBron, Luka, Gabe, anybody’s over there just telling me to keep going. And that’s what I try to do just try to go out there and win a game.”

Their lead grew to as much as 25 (53-28) midway through the second, but the Pacers chipped away from there – cutting the Lakers’ lead to 16 at halftime (66-50), four midway through the third (70-66).

The Lakers went back up by as many as 18 (92-74) late in the third and midway through the fourth (111-93), but the Pacers got their deficit back down to five (120-115) with just over one minute remaining.

But a Hachimura alley-oop and a pair of Reaves’ free throws helped the Lakers stay ahead for the remainder of the game.

“Very much an all-hands-on-deck game for us,” Redick said. “Our group was very connected on both ends of the floor.”

Austin Reaves’ career-high 45 points lead limited Lakers past Pacers Orange County Register

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Austin Reaves’ career-high 45 points lead limited Lakers past Pacers

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