Austin Reaves Reacts To Lakers Game 1 vs Nuggets | May 16, 2023

Hey, Austin, what's the balance for you in frustration from the way the game started, the loss, and then finding some encouragement with making it a game and having to test the tide there in the final minutes? Yeah, I mean, obviously, you never want to lose. First half was really ugly, to say the least. But like you said, we got it going in the second half and really just played harder. It was the common denominator at the end of everything was we went out and competed in the second half. We gave ourself a chance. Like I said, never want to lose, but this is a serious for a reason. What did you feel like was kind of the key adjustment aside from just the team playing harder in the second half? Uh, I feel like we played kind of similar. We didn't really change much. Like I said, I mean, I really think it was just effort and got some shots to fall from three, which helped a lot. But I don't think we really changed that much other than really energy. Austin is someone who obviously takes pride in your basketball IQ and kind of skill set as an opponent. He's really good. Obviously, you know, won MVP two years in a row. He just makes everybody on his team better. He's the key of being a really good star that helps others. So hats off to him. But like I said, this is serious, and we're going to battle. Yeah, obviously, it worked, and I think it just gives us an action to when you have a guy like Brian, you've got to, you know, if the guard is guarding me or whoever sets the screens, got to honor whatever he's about to do for obvious reasons because it's Brian. So I think it's really just action to kind of get them a step behind, and then whatever happens after that, you know, play out of close outs, shot or swing or whatever it is. So I think that that was good for us. What did you think kind of about their tough shot making in the second half? Obviously, you guys were able to weather some of this, but can you speak to just sort of some of the difficulty in the quarter one in the corner? Jokic at the end of the third, I think he just laughed. That's all you can do. They're really good. You know, Jamal made one over Brian. Like you said, Jokic over AD, Porter over me in the corner. But they're really good players for those reasons. They make shots like that. But like you said, we weathered the storm. And I remember we went to the bench. I think it was 6-0-6 in third, and I think we had scored 18 points and they had scored 20. So I mean, obviously, scoring wasn't the issue for either team. So we just got to take a little bit more pride on the defensive end and figure it out. Austin, lots to be made about your pitchers' game tonight. But how important was it for AD to score like he was doing? And how big was it, especially in those first three quarters, where he kind of was keeping you guys within that striking distance for you guys to make that comeback? Yeah, AD is a top five talent in the NBA for those reasons right there. When you're not playing well, he can weather the storm by himself. But that's, honestly, for me, I'd expect it from AD. Seeing him every day, the work he puts in, just the skill set that he has, I believe he can do that every night. Last question, Mike. Austin, I just wonder how, in that closing line-up with the chance tonight, Rui in there just makes you a little bit different size-wise, how that impacts your match-up, and the fact that he's able to stay on your pitch and leave AD off the ball. Just wondering what you thought of that. I mean, early in the first half, we were just getting out-rebounded. AD would go try to block a shot or contest a shot. And as much as I tried, for me, boxing out Jokic is not an easy task. So it just gives us a little bit more size to kind of play a couple of different ways and keep AD to where he can go block shots, as well as rebound as well. So I like what we've seen from that group. Appreciate y'all.