How Austin Reaves became ‘him’ for the Lakers in the NBA Playoffs

With all of the star energy that exists between the Los Angeles Lakers and Memphis Grizzlies, it ought to come as no shock that the phrase “I’m him” was emphatically shouted throughout the fourth quarter of Sunday’s Sport 1 showdown.

What ought to come as a shock is who was accountable for that flamboyant celebration. No, not both of the Lakers’ future Corridor of Famers, LeBron James and Anthony Davis. Not Memphis’ pair of All-Stars Ja Morant and Jaren Jackson Jr. Not even the sweet-shooting Desmond Bane.

The remarks got here from none apart from undrafted second-year guard Austin Reaves.

Reaves was feeling like 1,000,000 bucks on Sunday, and rightfully so, as his Sport 1 stat line learn 23 factors, 4 assists, one steal, and one block on 77.9 p.c true capturing en path to a 128-112 highway playoff win.

He did most of his injury within the fourth quarter, the place he scored 14 factors on 5-for-5 capturing from the ground. Throughout that stretch, “him” would possibly as nicely have been Steve Nash Jr., as Reaves weaponized the trusty outdated unfold pick-and-roll to amplify a weak point within the Grizzlies’ protection.

You see, Reaves spent most of his night being shadowed by frailer guards like Ja Morant and Tyus Jones, and even when he wasn’t, the Lakers would manipulate the ground to induce that matchup.

Anyway, neither of those guards are nice display screen navigators, so Reaves would put them by means of the wringer by having Davis set a ballscreen on them (thereby igniting the pick-and-roll). That Davis because the screener element is vital right here as a result of the participant usually defending him in these actions – the aforementioned Jackson – can’t afford to change the ballscreen, regardless of being an excellent change defender. The reason is that Memphis can’t afford to have both Morant or Jones change onto Los Angeles’ Iron Large within the paint. This pressured Jackson right into a extra conservative drop protection, which left Reaves with a runway to circulation into his pull-up jumper – a shot he usually converts at an efficient discipline purpose share of 53.5 p.c. For reference, that’s within the ninetieth percentile amongst gamers who common at the very least one pull-up per recreation and have appeared in at the very least 25 video games this season (per NBA.com).

This two-man recreation with Davis was instantly/not directly accountable for 4 of Reaves’ 5 fourth-quarter discipline targets and his sole journey to the charity stripe.

Now, there are cures to this dilemma (particularly scram switches and extra aggressive ballscreen coverages), cures the Grizzlies will certainly flip to in Sport 2. Reaves and the Lakers might want to regulate accordingly to those methods with counters of their very own in the event that they hope to duplicate their success.

Nevertheless, no matter what occurs subsequent, Reaves used his playoff debut to ship the primary significant blow of the sequence. And for that, the “him” moniker is one he’s greater than deserving of sporting.