The 116-104 victory by the Los Angeles Lakers over the Oklahoma City Thunder was a triumph that the home team emerged unblemished from the contest. The primary topic of discussion was D’Angelo Russell’s impressive оffensive performance. However, superstars LeBron James and Anthony Davis directed their attention to the opposing end of the court, where Austin Reaves encountered the formidable challenge of guarding Shai Gilgeous-Alexander of the Thunder.

The sixth-year sensation Gilgeous-Alexander is averaging 31.1 points, 5.6 rebounds, 6.5 assists, and a league-leading 2.2 steals per game on 54.6/38.3/88.2 percent shooting. Despite this, he finished Monday’s contest against Reaves and the Lakers with a meager 20 points and four assists on 5-for-13 shooting. It was his lowest point total since January 16 and his first performance below 30 since February 10.

James lauded Reaves’ outstanding performance against Gilgeous-Alexander, particularly in light of Reaves’ increasing concern regarding his defensive shortcomings this season.

“He has just accepted the challenge,” stated James. “Shai is, without a doubt, among the top players in our division. He was merely attempting to avoid placing him on the free-throw line, from which he also obtains a significant number of points. Whenever Austin was on the court attempting to contain the ball and force Shai and J-Will to take difficult shots, Giddey at times, I thought he was phenomenal. “We merely attempted to safeguard him from the rear end.”

Davis, the finest defensive player for the Lakers and one of the league’s elite on that end of the court, also praised Reaves’ performance against the Thunder MVP candidate.

Davis remarked, “He did an excellent job of moving his feet, keeping in mind that Shai likes to use pump fakes and draw fouls and the like to get to his reverse with a little push off and to his middy or to the lane.”

“Therefore, we believe we’ve done a decent job of putting him on the line now to get things going; they’re already going to make difficult shots, but you don’t want to engage in combat; that would also place him on the line. Therefore, he executed admirably by beginning the game against him, making it difficult for him, and funneling him to our defense so that we could get excellent contests and they missed early shots. Late on, he completed a few plays. However, AR performed admirably.

Reaves definitely demonstrated why Davis and James are the first to commend the Lakers’ role players when they perform exceptionally well in a given contest—as he did against the Thunder. Possibly his most impressive defensive effort of the year, it arrived just when the Lakers were in Ԁire need of it.

Austin Reaves offers D’Angelo Russell his admiration.

After defeating the Thunder, the Lakers were overjoyed, and Reaves, who performed admirably on defense, took the time to compliment Russell on his performance in the lane.

“It is a sight to behold how he gets buckets in such spurts when he gets hоt,” Reaves remarked of Russell following the victory. “If you roll back the tape, AD and I both stood up as soon as he received the ball, and we knew it was going up even before he passed it.” It was anticipated that Bron would return it to him, and we were also aware that it would rise; as soon as he released it, it appeared favorable.

“However, I will be the first to be pleased if four of my five attempts are overshadowed by anything else we accomplish.”