Lakers News: Austin Reaves Gets Honest About LA Ending Slump

The Lakers trend upwards following a thrilling win against the Golden State Warriors.

Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images

The Los Angeles Lakers are coming off an epic NBA Christmas showdown against the Golden State Warriors, with All-Star forward LeBron James leading his team to another huge victory. The Lakers are now trending upward, and many fans believe the “slump” is over.

In the 115-113 win, James recorded another double-double, scoring 31 points and dishing out 11 assists. Austin Reaves clinched the win with a game-winning layup and was huge for Los Angeles contributing a triple-double with 26 points, 10 rebounds, and 10 assists.

All-Star center Anthony Davis exited the game in the first quarter due to a sprained left ankle, and he would not make a return for the remainder of the matchup. Rui Hachimara stepped up to fill the void of Davis’ absence adding in 18 points and four rebounds.

Dalton Knecht played huge minutes off the bench scoring 13 points and providing the Lakers with a critical offensive boost to keep them in the game.

Despite All-NBA Warriors point guard Stephen Curry having one of his best games of the season, scoring 38 points, the Lakers were able to hold on down the stretch and secure the road win thanks to an Austin Reaves drive to beat the fourth quarter buzzer. Both teams traded buckets in the final seconds of the fourth quarter keeping fans on their feet in excitement, making this one of the best regular season matchups.

The Lakers are now trending upwards, having won four of their last five games. Their recent success has improved their season record to 17-13 and the team now sits at seventh place in the Western Conference. Since James’ return to the floor, his leadership has been the driving force in the Lakers recent success. This team has also improved tremendously defensively, which was a problem area they needed to address as the season continues.

Reaves spoke on his team’s win, detailing his belief on whether or not the team has collectively improved.

Austin Reaves on whether the team’s collective belief has improved by winning four out of five after going through their struggles: pic.twitter.com/ti65kXvmVG

— Dave McMenamin (@mcten) December 22, 2024

“You’re happy when you win, and you’re p----- off and sad when you lose. So, you just gotta believe in the process in what we’re doing, and doing things the right way. When you’re doing things the right and you lose obviously not happy, but you can build on the things that you were doing, and I felt like some of those games that we did lose, we were being process oriented instead of doing the opposite, so it sucks to go through those stretches, but it is the NBA.”

More Lakers: Lakers' JJ Redick Explains Why LA's Offense is Ranked 29th in Last Month