When Los Angeles Lakers head coach JJ Reddick was asked pregame about his expectations for Austin Reaves on a night when league’s leading scorer Luka Doncic was out of the lineup for personal reasons, he offered a short but revelatory answer.

“Austin is going to play his game,” the second-year coach simply noted, before his team won a thrilling 123-120 buzzer-beater against the Raptors on Thursday night.

He had a good reason to be upbeat. Reaves torched Toronto, scoring a game-high 44 points and adding 10 assists.

Reaves, the undrafted shooting guard from the University of Oklahoma who has been with the Lakers for five seasons, is having his best year and a big part behind why the 16-5 Lakers are in second place in a loaded Western Conference.

The Lakers still have LeBron Jame

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