Austin Reaves become a fan-favorite among the Los Angeles Lakers faithful in a very short period of time. They loved his effort on the court as a rookie, and he has built on a good rookie season with some very good performances in 2022-23. As is the case with most young players, there are times when they get incredibly frustrated when the shots aren’t falling, and Reaves found himself in that position.
He had a 3-game stretch to close out 2022, where he averaged 4.3 PPG on 16.0% shooting from the field, and the last two games were especially brutal, as he went a combined 1-18 against the Miami Heat and the Atlanta Hawks. He turned things around fairly quickly, though, as he went 5-7 from the field to score 15 points against the Charlotte Hornets in their last game. Afterward, Reaves credited Russell Westbrook and assistant coach Phil Handy for helping him break out of his slump.
via Lakers Nation:
“The past, I don’t know, four days or whatever I’ve been super frustrated with myself just cause I hold myself to a high standard. I truthfully believe every ball I shoot should go in. Obviously, that’s not the nature of the sport but everybody on the team and coaching staff just kept preaching to me to stay with it. You miss shots, you have games like that. I was talking to Russ after the Atlanta game and he told me he remembers he was playing Memphis and I think he went 0-for-11 from the field. Just hearing it from someone that’s as successful as him helped me a lot too just because it’s life.”
“I was actually talking with Phil Handy this morning and we were talking about just energy and mindset and controlling that type of part of it. Because I’ve been, like I said, super frustrated the last four days and his big message to me was just let it all go. Go back to being who you are, joking around, messing around, having a good time and things will happen.”
It is great of Westbrook and Handy to help out Reaves in a difficult moment for him, and the Lakers reaped the rewards of it instantly. While Reaves had a solid game against the Hornets, LeBron James stole all the headlines with another masterful display.
Darvin Ham Says The Lakers Will Continue To Rely On LeBron James
LeBron finished with 43 points against Charlotte to lead the Lakers to victory, and while we are amazed at what he can still do in his 20th season in the league, they are asking an awful lot of him. He won’t last the whole season if he has to carry this kind of workload, but head coach Darvin Ham doesn’t seem to think that way.
He stated that he will continue to rely on LeBron because he can handle it, as he takes great care of his body. While LeBron definitely takes great care of himself, there’s a limit to how much even he can do. Maybe once Anthony Davis comes back, we’ll see a reduction in LeBron’s minutes, but until then, the Lakers will continue to burden him with a heavy load.
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