Austin Reaves Shocks Twitter as Anthony Davis, Lakers Beat Paolo Banchero, Magic

Adam Pantozzi/NBAE via Getty Images

The Los Angeles Lakers faced a scare in Sunday’s game against the Orlando Magic, but second-year guard Austin Reaves put forth the best scoring performance of his career to help secure a 111-105 victory at Crypto.com Arena.

Reaves finished with a career-high 35 points in 30 minutes off the bench, and he added six rebounds and six assists in the win. The 24-year-old shot 9-of-14 from the field and lived at the free-throw line, going 16-of-18 from the charity stripe.

The scoring outburst by Reaves helped make up for meager outings from the Lakers’ star players. Point guard D’Angelo Russell finished with 18 points, and star big man Anthony Davis had just 15 points on 6-of-15 shooting, though he added 11 rebounds.

NBA Twitter was blown away by Reaves’ exceptional performance on Sunday:

The Lakers are trying to make a late push for the playoffs with the regular season winding down, so all hands are on deck to help them achieve their goal. In the absence of star forward LeBron James (foot), players will need to step up to help replace his production.

Reaves filled that role on Sunday, and he will have a major impact on Los Angeles’ postseason push if he continues playing at a high level.

The Lakers (35-37) will look to keep the momentum going when they return to action on Wednesday against the Phoenix Suns (38-33).