Less than four weeks after suffering a Grade 2 left oblique muscle strain, Austin Reaves is closing in on a return with the Lakers in position to clinch a spot in the Western Conference semifinals.
Reaves will officially be a game-time decision before Wednesday’s potentially series-clinching Game 5 against the Houston Rockets at 7 p.m. at Crypto.com Arena. He was questionable for Games 3 and 4, warming up on the court before each game, but was ultimately ruled out.
The Lakers have a 3-1 lead in the best-of-seven series despite playing without Reaves and leading scorer Luka Doncic, who is out because of a Grad 2 left hamstring strain.
“JJ [Redick] specifically was like you have to be comfortable with your body and what you can do to go out there and help us be successful,” Reaves said of his coach in his first comments to reporters since suffering the injury on April 2. “And I want to get back out there as fast as I can. But like I said, I feel good and trending in the right direction and can’t wait to wake up tomorrow and attack another day.”
Reaves said he typically has a very high pain tolerance. Even though he finished the game against Oklahoma City on April 2, he wasn’t surprised the injury that left him grabbing at his left side repeatedly during the game turned out to be significant enough to sideline him for several weeks.
The game was especially painful for the Lakers, who also lost Doncic on the same night. Reaves’ regular-season ending injury news came a day after Doncic’s. The Lakers, then in third place in the Western Conference, came crashing down from a 15-2 record in March. They suddenly looked like sitting ducks in the playoff hunt.
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At least only to those outside the locker room.
“Our confidence doesn’t waver as a team,” Reaves said. “Basically the message from that day forward was … that they were going to do everything as a team to give us an opportunity to come back and play. And they’ve done exactly what they said.”
The Lakers finished the regular season with three consecutive wins to hold onto home-court advantage as the fourth seed. They raced out to a 3-0 series lead against the Rockets, who staved off elimination with a blowout win in Game 4.
Doncic is progressing in his return, but still has not started playing one-on-one yet. Last weekend, he improved enough to incorporate movement into his on-court work instead of just standstill shooting.
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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
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