Despite Austin Reaves dropping 41, the Lakers fall to Portland 122-108

I don't know who said something to Austin Reaves about his game in the off-season, but he has turned it on. In the last two games, he has hit over 40 points and has been highlighted as one of the players to stop when you are playing LA. Against Portland, he attempted to put LA on his back but did not really have much help from his bench. Collectively, the bench only scored 22 points.

The Laker's downfall was the Trailblazers transitions in the open floor. Jrue Holiday and Deni Avdija were killing the Lakers. Both players combined for 49 points. Outside of attempting to stop those two, LA could not get their three-point shot in the basket. They shot around 26% and was forcing the issue, especially in the third quarter. After the game, JJ Reddick gave an update about Marus Smart and Hayes injury. JJ Redick says he is hopeful the Lakers will have Marcus Smart and Jaxson Hayes available on Wednesday in Minnesota.

“I am tired, but this is why we play the game,” Reaves said after playing 39 minutes and nine seconds and going 13-for-22 from the field and three for eight from three-point range. “It's fun. Obviously, we didn't play as good as we wanted to tonight, but like [Lakers coach] JJ [Redick] said after the game, it's tough with short rotations. We got seven guys, I think, that were out. So we played hard. We played hard enough to win. We just didn't execute as good as we needed to.”