Los Angeles Lakers guard Austin Reaves was both brutally honest and highly self-critical of his own game after the Minnesota Timberwolves eliminated L.A. from the NBA playoffs on Wednesday night.
Speaking before the media after the contest, a despondent Reaves was asked if he could put his finger on what went wrong for the Lakers. And his response saw him shoulder much of the blame for the loss.
“I really just don’t think we played good,” he said. “Give credit to Minnesota, they played a really good series, but I think it comes down to just us not being us. And obviously, I didn’t have the series that I wanted to have, so you can point the finger at me. I really don’t care, I wasn’t good enough to help us be successful and I wish I could’ve [done] more. But I didn’t, I struggled. You live and you learn. I guarantee that I’ll get back to work this offseason and I’ll be better.”
Watch that question and answer starting below, around the 1:52 mark:
Reaves had the best regular season of his short career this year, averaging 20.2 points (34th in the league), 4.5 rebounds and 5.8 assists per game while acting as a solid third option behind stars Luka Doncic and LeBron James.
But he did struggle to perform in this series. He put up some decent points here and there but didn't make a giant impact out on the court. And on Wednesday—a pivotal contest—he went 5 for 14 from inside the arc and 2 for 10 from behind it to put up just 12 points.
To his credit, the Lakers seemed all around unprepared for what Minnesota would bring, and it showed in everyone's performance, not just Reaves's. But if anything, maybe the 26-year-old can use this as motivation for grinding and getting better over the offseason.
The Timberwolves will now advance to play the winner of Golden State Warriors-Houston Rockets in the Western Conference Semifinals.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Austin Reaves Gets Real Candid Evaluating His Performance in Lakers' Series Loss.
