Austin Reaves opens up on tough 4 weeks before Game 5 return

LOS ANGELES – The Los Angeles Lakers received a huge boost before Game 5 of their opening round playoff series against the Houston Rockets with Austin Reaves cleared to make his return from injury. The ending didn’t go so well for the Lakers as they fell, 99-93, and will now have to travel to Houston for Game 6.

Although he would have preferred a more favorable result in Game 5, Austin Reaves was still grateful to have been able to be on the court for the Lakers after having his love ripped from him for almost a month. He admitted to getting slightly emotional when he took the floor for his 2026 playoff debut.

“As I ran out tonight for the first time in a long time, I got that really good chills feeling with the atmosphere, with the crowd,” Reaves said after the game. “And I think that’s just because when something you love is taken away from you for four weeks with an injury, and then you get thrown into the fire in a game like this, I could say I wouldn’t want it any other way, but kind of do.

“But it was a lot of fun. The fans were great. Upset that we didn’t end it tonight on our home court, but we’ll have another opportunity Friday to go get it done.”

It was clear that Reaves’ was still trying to find his rhythm and get his legs under him as the game went on. He showed in spurts what the Lakers had been missing; a ball-handler that can create his own shot off the bounce and put pressure on the defense in terms of drawing fouls.

Reaves began the game off the bench, but started the second half and didn’t appear to be under any kind of minutes restriction. He played 34 minutes and finished with 22 points albeit shooting only 4-of-16 from the field and 2-of-8 from the 3-point line.

He did get the free-throw line 13 times, converting on 12 of those attempts, and he added four rebounds, six assists and one steal. With one game under his belt now, he has about 48 hours to get ready for Game 6. But he’s looking forward to the challenge and churning out a better outing as far as his efficiency.

“I wish I could get a little bit more of a rhythm before jumping into the fire like that. But like I said, I had a lot of fun out there and I just trust myself and trust the work that I put in,” Reaves said. “But it’s hard to emulate real basketball reps even if you’re doing it in practice, stay ready, whatever it might be. So it’s really hard to get the same feel.

“I got a little tired in the second half, but that’s something I got to push through … limited to playing a couple warm-up games. I get tossed back in the fire on Friday and hopefully have a better result.”

Reaves was initially listed as questionable coming into the game, and the plan was for him to go through his pregame warmups and see how he felt. He was ultimately upgraded to available, and the overall feeling going to back to Lakers practice on Tuesday was that barring an unforeseen setback, he would play.

“It’s been a grind. I’ve been running around Los Angeles doing everything I could possibly do to get back to this moment … it feels good,” Reaves said. “I love playing basketball. It’s my happy place and it was nice to get back out there. Obviously wish I played a little better, wish I made a couple more shots. But at the end of the day, I had fun out there and it was good to compete.”

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