Austin Reaves is transforming into a household name in front of our very eyes. Sunday’s performance for the Lakers in the first round of the NBA playoffs in front of a national audience is starting to cement his place in the league.
The Los Angeles Lakers fought back from a horrid 2-10 start to make the NBA play-in tournament. They defeated the Minnesota Timberwolves, lock themselves into the No. 7 seed, and face the second-seeded Memphis Grizzlies.
Despite having two top-25 players in LeBron James and Anthony Davis, the Lakers are the underdogs in the series. On Sunday, they didn’t look the part as the Lake Show reeled off a 128-112 victory on the Grizzlies’ home court.
Austin Reaves and Rui Hachimura shined so bright for the Lakers.
Reaves was magnificent in the fourth quarter, ending the night with 23 points in his 31 minutes of action. He did so on a perfect 5 of 5 shooting from the field with two 3-pointers and two free throws for 14 points in the fourth quarter.
Reaves’ performance was impressive because it was his first playoff game on the road against the team in the NBA with the best home record during the regular season.
The fourth quarter was highly contested until the last two minutes when the Lakers blitzed the Grizzlies after going up 108-101 with under 4 minutes left. Reaves was given the keys to the offensive operation by LeBron and Anthony Davis and delivered as they let the offense run through the former Sooner in crunch time.
Here’s a look at some of the best reactions on Twitter to Austin Reaves’ performance.