TORONTO — Lakers coach JJ Redick made it clear that the onus wasn’t on Austin Reaves to score 50 points on Thursday night in light of Luka Doncic being away from the team because of personal reasons.
But even if it might not be his singular responsibility to make up for Doncic’s absence, Reaves has shown throughout the season that he’ll raise his level of play to even higher levels when Doncic isn’t available.
Thursday night against the Toronto Raptors was no different, with Reaves once again stepping up, recording 44 points, 11 assists and five rebounds.
But it was Rui Hachimura’s game-winning shot – and LeBron James voluntarily passing up on a late opportunity to continue a legendary streak – that gave the Lakers a 123-120 victory over the Raptors at Scotiabank Arena.
With the score tied at 120, the Raptors double-teamed Reaves during his isolation as the game clock ticked down. Reaves passed to James above the 3-point arc with a semi-open lane in front of him as Immanuel Quickley made the help rotation.
As Quickley came over into the paint, James fired a pass to Hachimura in the left corner for the game-winning 3-pointer as time expired, securing the victory for the Lakers, who moved to 16-5 to start a road trip that will continue Friday night in Boston.
James, the NBA’s career scoring leader, finished with eight points, ending his streak of 1,297 consecutive double-digit regular-season scoring games.
James, who has said countless times over his 23-year career that he always tries to make the right and smartest play, threw his hands in the air in celebration.
“Bron told me right before this, ‘I got you. It’s going to come to you,’” Hachimura said in a televised on-court interview after the game.
The streak ended, but the win was all that evidently mattered.
“LeBron is acutely aware of how many points he has at that point,” Lakers coach JJ Redick said. “He did it like he’s done so many times.”
James once again struggled with his shot-making, shooting 4 for 17 from the field, the third consecutive game he’s shot worse than 40% from the field. He missed all five of his 3-point attempts, didn’t attempt a single free throw and couldn’t find a rhythm inside the 3-point arc, either.
The four-time league MVP missed six of his nine shot attempts inside the paint, including going 2 of 7 inside the restricted area but his assist to Hachimura was his 11th.
Thursday was the first time since Jan. 5, 2007, that James didn’t score at least 10 points in a game.
Reaves, who scored 22 of his points in the third quarter, finished 13 for 21 from the field (5 for 11 from 3-point range) and 13 for 15 at the free-throw line as the Lakers improved to 9-2 on the road.
Deandre Ayton finished with 17 points, Jake LaRavia had 14, and Hachimura and Nate Smith Jr. each had 12 as the Lakers bounced back from Monday’s home loss to Phoenix to win for the eighth time in their past nine games.
Scottie Barnes scored 23 points and Brandon Ingram had 20 for the Raptors. JaKobe Walter scored 17 points, and Sandro Mamukelashvili and Immauel Quickley each had 13.
More to come on this story.