For a vital chunk of Friday night time at Crypto.com Arena, it appeared like ghosts of the Lakers’ previous – in the type of Clippers ahead Rui Hachimura and heart Brook Lopez – were going to be the causes for their first loss.
Especially with their famous person guard Luka Doncic struggling to discover an offensive rhythm.
But fellow star guard Austin Reaves confirmed why the franchise invested the massive bucks in him over the summer season, offering his crew with a spark en route to a 125-117 victory to put the Lakers at 2-0 early in the season.
With the sport tied at 64 at halftime, and the Lakers struggling to create separation, taking a small 73-72 lead early in the third, Reaves took issues into his own palms, sparking a 16-4 run that was the distinction in the sport.
The run began with Reaves changing a robust, bodily layup over Isaiah Jackson before aiding Walker Kessler for an alley-oop dunk and Matisse Thybulle on a nook 3-pointer.
From there, Reaves took over, scoring the sport’s next 9 factors to put the Lakers up 89-76 after a pull-up 3 for the crew’s largest lead of the sport at the time.
Reaves scored 13 factors in the third, in addition to 3 assists, for practically half of his scoring whole (28 factors).
The Lakers practically squandered Reaves’ run, permitting the Clippers to cut their lead to 120-113 late in the fourthm but they never relinquished the lead.
Kessler had 22 factors, 8 rebounds, 6 blocked pictures, 3 steals and 3 steals.
Doncic completed with 23 factors (8-of-21 taking pictures), 7 assists, and 6 rebounds.
Reaves was once again ultra-efficient, taking pictures 10 of 13 from the discipline (3 of 5 on 3s, 5 of 6 on free throws) to go with 9 assists for the sport.
Lopez had 22 factors and 4 rebounds off the bench, while Hachimura had 16 factors and 6 rebounds against his former crew.
Darius Garland led the Clippers with 26 factors and 6 assists.