Lakers’ Reaves, Doncic brings late-game magic to OT Thriller

LOS ANGELES – On a night when it seemed like every Lakers player made a big play to lift them to a 127-125 overtime victory over the Denver Nuggets on Saturday, perhaps none was bigger than Austin Reaves’ missed shot.

This time, it was an intentional missed shot from the free throw line by Reaves with 5.2 seconds left in the fourth quarter.

Reaves drove the ball to the left side of the rim, chased down an offensive rebound and made a 9-footer with 1.9 seconds left to knot the score at 118 and force overtime.

“I mean, I knew I was going to miss it,” said Reaves, who led LA with 32 points, hitting 30 for the third straight game. “I wouldn’t give the ball a chance to go in. Some people shoot it high and end up by accident. But I don’t think my ball has ever gone more than 10 meters.”

Deandre Ayton was the only Lakers player lined up on the left, and he put three-time MVP Nikola Jokic under the basket, allowing Reaves a clear path to carom pursuit.

“It was very difficult to do, and for him to tie the game, that gave us the win,” said Luka Doncic. “That execution was perfection.”

And it set up some late-game magic from Doncic at the end of the extra session when, with the score tied, he hit an 18-foot step-back, fadeaway jump shot with 0.5 left to put the Lakers up by two. Then in Denver’s takeover, he blocked teammate Tim Hardaway Jr.’s 3-pointer at the buzzer to seal it.

“I went to my left hand, left,” Doncic said. “I’ve done that a few times throughout my career, so I trust the gun.”

While Doncic — who finished with 30 points, 13 assists and 11 rebounds in his eighth double-double of the season — was modest following his first 50-point game as a Laker with his franchise’s first win, his teammate, LeBron James, celebrated the 27-year-old star.

“Just a big picture of a f—ing player,” James said. “He’s a long-term player, man. … We wanted one last shot. We wanted to put the ball in our guy’s hands. …

“It will be the first of those who have won games like that for him wearing a Lakers uniform.”

Just as Doncic’s shot wouldn’t have happened without Reaves’ floater, the latter might not have happened if it weren’t for the effort James showed with less than a minute left in regulation.

With the Lakers trailing 112-111 with 54.3 seconds left, James pounced on a loose ball to stop Christian Braun from getting an offensive rebound and forced a jumper at midcourt when Jamal Murray tied it down.

“I said [James] after the game, I said, ‘In the 23 years I’ve watched you play in the NBA, the three years I’ve watched you play in high school, I’ve never seen you do a full dive like that,'” Lakers coach JJ Redick said. “He said, ‘You’re right, I’ve never done that.’

Redick said he told his team to treat Saturday like a playoff game, with the season series tiebreaker against Denver on the line and a postseason berth at stake. James said that message resonated, leading to an overall effort similar to the one he showed in the hustle game.

“I think we all heard it from our coaches when we were young: The first guy down usually gets the ball,” said James, who finished with 17 points, six rebounds and five assists in 40 minutes of play. “So, that’s just my little league coach in my head at the time, understanding the value of it.”

The Lakers also got key contributions from Marcus Smart (21 points, five steals), who had the go-ahead layup with 46.8 seconds left in the fourth and followed that up with a go-ahead 3-pointer with 30.7 seconds left in overtime. Ayton (nine points, nine rebounds) had four points on 2-for-2 shooting, two rebounds and a block on Jokic in overtime.

Jokic (24 points, 16 rebounds, 14 assists) was just 1-for-4 with two points and one board in OT.

“Everyone on the floor had to do something, do something for us to win,” Doncic said.

The Lakers have won five straight and eight of their last nine to climb to No. 3 in the Western Conference standings. They have a half-game lead on No. 4 Houston Rockets, LA will play Monday and Wednesday in Houston as the first two games of their six-game road trip.

“Is the word ‘coalesce’? Is that the right word? Coalescence?” Redick asked. “I think it feels like we’re working together right now in a really good way. There’s still a long way to go, there’s still a long way to go, but we’re certainly optimistic about how we’re handling this stretch of games. … Big time.”