MILWAUKEE — Down 19 to the Milwaukee Bucks with 8:25 remaining in regulation on Tuesday night, the Los Angeles Lakers had every right to throw in the towel, especially on the first night of a six-game road trip. Instead, they chose to keep fighting and wound up pulling off a dramatic comeback to win 128-124 in double overtime.
“Hell yeah, hell yeah, definitely top-five [win of the season], might be top-three,” Lakers head coach Darvin Ham said. “We dealt with a lot of adversity throughout the entirety of the game, were able to pull ourselves together, stayed focused, never gave up … that was a hell of a team win right there.”
Despite still trailing by double digits with 3:26 left, the Lakers nearly won the game in regulation. Austin Reaves had a wide open look from 30 feet with 0.8 seconds left, but saw his heave hit the backboard and spin off the rim. Two overtime periods later, Reaves would redeem himself by draining a go-ahead 3 with 37.8 seconds to play.
“This is the stuff you dream about as a kid,” Reaves said. “Being on the road with your guys, battling out an amazing team and having opportunities to make big shots. That’s what I’ve grown up living to do. Counting down in the backyard to win a game, if I somehow miss, time kinda slows down a bit and I get to count down again … in those moments I’m out of breath, but adrenaline is running so fast you kinda don’t feel it.”
With the Lakers’ big win in the books, here’s a look at all the numbers you need to know from a wild night in Milwaukee:
19
The Lakers did not have a lead in regulation and were down by as much as 19 early in the fourth quarter. This was tied for the second-biggest comeback of the season for the Lakers, falling short of only their 21-point comeback against the Los Angeles Clippers late last month.
52
Anthony Davis has been plagued by injuries throughout his career, but that has not been the case this season. He’s already played 68 games and is on pace to hit the 70-game mark for the first time since 2018. His effort on Tuesday was a perfect example of his durability this campaign, as he played 52 of a possible 58 minutes.
Davis’ 52 minutes are not only a career-high, but the most played by any player this season. They are also the most played by any Lakers player since Kobe Bryant played 52 minutes in the Lakers’ double-overtime win over the Memphis Grizzlies in 2012.
Making Davis’ accomplishment even more impressive is the fact that he was battling a sore knee from a collision with Khris Middleton. “He assured me he was gonna push through,” Ham said. “Kudos to him, man. He played his ass off.”
34, 23
Davis did not have his best shooting game on Tuesday, but he made shots when they mattered, including a pair of 3-pointers late in the fourth quarter and another in the first overtime. All told, he finished with 34 points, 23 rebounds and four blocks to record his fourth 30-point, 20-rebound game as a Laker.
That moved him past George Mikan for the fifth-most such games in Lakers history, trailing Shaquille O’Neal, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Wilt Chamberlain and Elgin Baylor.
4, 40-32, 9, 2, 2.5
With their improbable victory, the Lakers’ winning streak reached four games and they improved to 40-32 on the season. Still all alone in ninth place in the Western Conference, they are now just two games back of the Phoenix Suns for eighth, with the tiebreaker in hand, and 2.5 games up on the Golden State Warriors.
At this point the Lakers have nearly locked in a spot in the Play-In Tournament, but their seed is still to be determined. If they can get up to eighth, they’ll be in the 7-8 game, which gives them two chances to make the playoffs. Even if they aren’t able to catch the Suns, the No. 9 seed is still important to have homecourt in the 9-10 game.
29, 14, 10
Coming into Tuesday, Reaves had one triple-double in his career, but it came during the meaningless final game of the 2021-22 season. Nearly two years later, he finally got back into the triple-double action. This time, it was truly a game to remember, as he finished with 29 points, 14 rebounds and 10 assists, and hit the game-winner in double overtime.
Since the start of the turn of the millennium, the only other players to have at least 29 points, 14 rebounds and 10 assists in a game for the Lakers are Bryant and LeBron James.
“Austin does it all. I just love coaching the kid, man,” Ham said. “If there’s any representation of the Darvin Ham era, Austin Reaves would be right at the top of that list. Just with his competitiveness, the way he cares about his teammates, how coachable he is, and just wants to win. He’s a kid who’s just a flat-out winner.”
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