Austin Reaves Reacts To Lakers Game 2 vs Nuggets | May 18, 2023

Austin, what do you think the physical challenge has been these two games where he, yes, your last game you talked about the energy and effort early and not being there. It seemed like it was there tonight. Where did you feel like that, how the second half ended up making a difference? It wasn't energy, but what was it about Denver in that second half then? Tonight or last game? I mean, I think there was four possessions in a row where they hit four threes. A couple of them were really contested, and I think a couple of them were kind of defensive breakdowns. But tip your hat, they made shots when they needed to. What's the defensive difficulty, I suppose, of trying to make sure you're staying with Jokic as a team and then also get out to the ball screens and limit what the threes are? How do you guys play that? Yeah, I mean, Jokic, like I said last night is, or two nights ago, he's so good at making everybody around him up to their potential. He gets the max out of every player he has just by the way he demands everybody's focus, the way he can pass the ball. I mean, I thought for the most part we defended well besides a couple of those possessions where they got a couple of threes. But like I said, tip your hat off and move on. Austin, did it feel like there was an opportunity or that maybe there were points left on the court in the first quarter when defensively you guys had them pretty locked up, you guys were getting to the line, but I think still only up five at halftime after having some opportunities? Yeah, I mean, it's the game. I'm sure you could go ask the same question to their guys and they'd say the same thing. Yeah, there's always things that you could do better to build on a lead or sustain a lead. But we competed the night. And like I said, there's a couple of breakdowns. But yeah, no, there's always in every game. I know it's situations where you look back and think, if we did this instead of this, we could add a six-point lead or an eight-point lead. But it's just the nature of all sports. Those things happen. Austin, Coach was saying that the challenge now is not to get down. From a mental and emotional standpoint, what is the challenge for you guys there? Don't get down. I mean, Denver's the 1C for a reason. They're a really good basketball team. And quote, unquote, they did what they were supposed to do here. Obviously, we don't love that. We wish we could have got one, two, whatever. But it's time for us to lock in on game three, see what we did in this game, last game that didn't work, areas that we could get better, watch film, and just move on. I wish you could win them all, but it's not the nature of any sport. Austin, you guys don't get here without LeBron and AD. How do you, as a group, process them both struggling from the field down the stretch in the same game? Like you said, who knows where we would be without them? Yeah, you could look at the stat sheet and look at the fourth quarter and be like, LeBron missed the layup when he got the steal or had some turnover. Same for AD. But I guarantee you, if you ask any coach in any basketball, if you wanted those two on their team, they'd take them in a heartbeat. So it's just basketball. It's all sports. You have good days. You have not so good days. And you wake up the next morning and have a great day. Austin, what do you think of the job that LeBron did on Jokic and just kind of that adjustment of throwing another body after, obviously, the Rui adjustment got a lot of attention last game? I think LeBron was really effective regarding him, just because of, I think, his IQ helped, because he was very handsy and got a couple deflections on a couple passes that led into transition. Yeah, I mean, he did good. And we'll look and see if we do that a little more or whatever. Austin, after a loss like this one, it was too close. And the recovery has to be fast, because the next game is in two days. Do you do something special just to recover for the next game, to think for something new, and to forget about a loss like this one? Yeah, I mean, if I had time to go golf, I'd go golf. Probably play the game tonight. Obviously, stay on top of hydration and all the recovery stuff we can do. Our medical staff is great. Connect with them on what you can just do to prepare yourself, get better for the next game. But yeah, I mean, everybody needs a little mental getaway, because we do this so much. But at the end of the day, you're always still locked on on the next challenge, the next game. So yeah, I mean, obviously, sucks we lost. But things you can learn from this. Austin, LeBron, obviously, 0 for 10 from three over the first two games of the series. Does that give you guys confidence, just kind of knowing that there's probably a good chance he's not going to have that stretch again in these playoffs? Yeah, I mean, he can shoot all he wants. It's LeBron James. I don't think anybody bats an eye when he shoots a shot or questions a shot. So yeah, we want him taking whatever he feels comfortable with, just because he's a winning basketball player for his whole career. And that's all he wants to do. He wants to win. Yep.