Reaves, AD, D-Lo, Coach Ham x James Worthy React To Lakers/Magic | March 19, 2023

Good evening, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the Austin Reeves show. A little Austin Reeves-worthy clap because that brother came to play today. Yes, he did. Big game, James. Worthy. Robert Ory. Lakers get the win. Don't care if it's Orlando. Don't care if they almost lost the lead. This was a game they absolutely had to win. And in the pregame show, we all said we wanted Austin Reeves to have the ball in at least a couple of those possessions down the stretch, the final three minutes and 16 seconds of that Dallas game. That stuck out to all three of us. Well, tonight, Rob, he did have the ball in his hands, and he ended up with a career-high 35 points. He got to the line 18 times, and he made 16 of them. And by the way, he had six rebounds and six assists. Austin Reeves saves the day. Austin was on fire. You know, it's something to say about a guy who went to college for four years, who understands the game, understands his body. You know, I've said this over and over. He is probably one of the best guys in the league as far as drawing fouls. Yeah. You know, it's not the old James Harden where he goes in. He has a way of, like, jumping and letting you jump into him and still making a shot. A lot of guys just throw it up and try to get it going, but he's making a shot. He was phenomenal tonight. He played under control. He got the assist. He just, when he came to the game, the game just changed. Big game. I'm sure a lot of people around the country aren't watching late Laker games every night like we are. He has to be one of the most improved players in this league. An undrafted rookie just two years ago. I would have to say he continues to improve from last year to this year, from game to game. He is a true student of the game. He's a gym rat. You don't see too many guys like that. I would imagine he looks at a lot of film. I've seen him work out with the assistant coach handy quite a bit on his footwork. You will not speed him up. He won't be sped up. And Rob is exactly right. He slows down and waits for you to catch up to him, and then he just knows how to bump and shoot. I watched the Lakers after they lost that Dallas game, and they were distraught. They were sad. And he was on his knees, and you could tell he was just hurting. And the way he played tonight is the way you come back from a victory like that. He's super smart, and I'll say it again. A three-handicap in golf is really, really disciplined and really, really on his game. If you're a three-handicap in golf, you're a student. He makes winning plays, and he's about the team at all times. Let's go back downtown. Austin is with Mike Trudell. It's RDP. You heard him. It is the man of the day. It's Austin Reeves. What a performance from you, Austin. I'm sure you're worried a lot less about the career high in points. I know you just wanted to get the win, and your team needed every one of them. So what got into you today, and how were you able to get that done? I left one on the board there. You know, like you said, I mean, it's all a joke. Austin had just talked about how he was hoping to avoid the water, and he did not. As Schroeder and Malik Beasley try to cool him off. Yeah, we won't let you slip. Hey, hey. That one. I did, I did. That was on you. Yeah, before we started recording, I said you had avoided the water, and, of course, it was coming late. So that is my fault, and I do apologize. All right. So what is it like hearing MVP chants in the arena? And I know you've talked about this before. You don't consider yourself an MVP, but you have to feel something from that. Yeah, it's special. You know, I play the game with, you know, the type of mindset to go leave it on the court every night. And for them to appreciate what I do that much means a lot to me. So shout-out to Lakers Nation. You know, it's all love. Yeah, so you've been here now your whole career. We know the whole story, like undrafted. But you get to a point now where you're the key player in a game like this, in games that you guys have to win to get to that playoff performance. How do you try and build on this now as you guys try and get that goal done? It's a good win. I mean, every win from here on out is crucial, and every game is crucial. We're going to take it one game at a time, enjoy this one, watch film either tomorrow or the next day. But like I said before, I mean, it's all about how we approach the game, and it's more of what we do. If we're locked into what we need to do and how we need to play, then I feel like we got the personnel and the firepower to be, you know, one of the best teams in the league. All right, you're probably going to get another water bath when you get in there. Do you feel refreshed after this one? Are you feeling all right? You good? I feel good. I hope they don't do that. I appreciate it, Austin. Appreciate you. Austin Reed's getting a little shout-out to Lakers Nation because the fans do appreciate how hard he plays. And Big Game just mentioned it. He leaves it all out on the floor. When he's driving, he stops on a dime and rises so quickly. And that's hard to do because so many guys, when they do that, they're off balance. But at every moment, he's always on balance. We were laughing. We were literally talking about that movie. Like people were, I'll take him, because we were watching Markel Fultz and whoever would come in and they were all trying to go out and like, what's happening here? He would just take every guy to the rack. I'd be safe to say that he probably, with his four years of college, and Rob knows it's drill work after drill work after drill work. Same thing for four years, every day. You know, it just becomes, you know, like natural for you. I think he has more knowledge than a lot of people that he's playing against. Some of these guys that have played two years, one year, this guy is like, he's got tons of knowledge up there. And he knows how to use it, too. When he looks at video, he sees what he can take advantage of. He doesn't have to out-quick people. He doesn't have to be as fast. He just angles them off, plays the game. And tonight, man, I tell you, a lot of people didn't get to see Pistol Pete Mavericks play. I was young. You and I have talked about this. He has that kind of game. For the people that, you know, didn't get to see Pistol Pete, and I'm not calling him Steve Nash. Steve Nash was a two-time MVP. But there's something that resembles it for me just in the way, Rob, that he navigates through the key, like you said, and always he can work it with the footwork. He's patient. He's able to make the crafty pass, the smooth pass, the fun pass, the around-the-back like we saw tonight. So he's got flash to his game as well, but he's under control, if that makes sense. Yeah, it makes perfect sense. And the thing about it, a lot of times guys will throw behind-the-back passes just to do it. His are necessary. Everything he does is planned and orchestrated the right way. And what he does, he's like a machine. He analyzes the game. He plays them under control. He doesn't try to speed himself up like we talked about. But everybody on that team knows he's probably one of the smartest guys, one of the highest IQs on the team outside of LeBron James. Not a comparison at all. Yeah. Not at all. But you watch CP3 and watch Austin Reeves, how they navigate and how they get players in a certain position where they can take advantage of them. It's great. Very similar. It's a great call. So, Rob, when we did our pregame show the last time down there, James and myself, Phil Handy came over during a commercial break and was saying hello, and I'm like, hey, coach, we were just talking about you the other night and all the work you've been doing with the handles with Austin Reeves. He's playing so well. And he looked at James and I and he said exactly what we were all kind of talking about last year, that young man is fearless. That's what he said. And that's something we noticed last year, but the way we were using it last year was he was an undrafted rookie, there was no expectations, and he was just thrown into these positions to play with LeBron and AD and we're like, man, he's not scared of anything. So it's interesting to hear Phil say that because he doesn't play with any fear. Yeah. I think a lot of times it's from how you was brought up. Got you. This guy was brought up hard-nosed, taking what you want, going up against Malik, having to be the underdog all the time. And when you're the underdog and you want it so bad, you get a grittiness about you that nobody can understand unless you've been in that position. And so you look at him. We were just talking about Bill Hall. You look at his body. He's not ripped like a LeBron. He doesn't have the hops. He's got the golfer's chance. He's got a farmer's chance. But you've got to respect his game because his knowledge and his skill set. I always look at some basketball player and you look at them like, he's a basketball player. Like if you look at somebody like James Hart, he's not ripped up, but he's a hell of an athlete. And that's what this guy is. He can jump with the best of them. He can hang. He's smart. There's so many attributes that go into his game that makes him the player that he is that we could be here for hours talking about. He's a Wayne Gretzky on the basketball court. Others deserve love. D'Lo had a great bounce-back game. The bench was awesome with 61 points. But let's hear from Darvin Ham. He's speaking with the media. Darvin, I think you've called Austin a daredevil a few times. The crowd called him MVP tonight. What did you think of his aggression in crunch time and how valuable was that for you guys as you closed this game out? I thought it was him being his normal self, what he's been all year, coming up in clutch moments for us, trying to make plays downhill, putting the defense in, you know, uncomfortable positions with his ability to attack the paint and draw fouls. So he was great. He ended up with 36, 35. We needed all of them tonight. And just his aggressiveness reflects in his free-throw attempts. But that's been Austin all year. He's a hell of a player. Happy he's on our team, and we damn sure needed him tonight. Austin, the first couple games when you got the new guys and you had LeBron seemed like such an easy, natural fit. Last couple games it's been more the bench that's been having to come back from some leads that have evaporated from the starting lineup. How do you gauge all that with LeBron at some point returning and just the way that you've seen the starters play the last couple? I mean, we'll navigate that when he gets here, when he gets back into the flow of things. LeBron, that is. But until then, you know, guys just – I think guys are fitting well together. It's just some nights guys make shots, some nights they don't. And we have to be able to, you know, I don't want to say suffer through, but maintain, you know, in spite of the ball may not be going in for everyone like it should. But, you know, at the end of the day, as long as we move the ball, you know, trust one another. You know, at halftime we had 15 assists on 20 field goals, 20 made field goals. So that, you know, guys like Austin, Dennis, even Troy tonight knocking in four threes. Like everybody's caring, you know, doing their part, playing their role to the best of their capabilities. And if we're able to sustain that on both sides of the ball, then, you know, it'll buy us time to really get everybody back in and fitting and in position when we're all back whole. Just to follow up on Dan's question about Austin, the last couple games especially his free throw rate has skyrocketed. How much have you just kind of entrusted him with the ball a little more? How much is he just naturally getting it? And how have you seen that the last – whatever it is, two, three weeks maybe? Yeah, he and Dennis and D-Lo, that's a great three-headed monster to have on the perimeter. And, you know, with A.D. out there, you surround him with shooters, playmakers, guys who are, you know, big in big moments. It fits well. But Austin in particular, you know, it's just a feel. You know, he's – you're putting the ball in his hands, you see him making things happen, so you allow him to initiate. Not only can he score, he does a great job of finding his teammates as well. And he's a smart, smart, high IQ basketball player. So he's going to make the right play, whether that play is for himself, or his teammate, or just making the pass that sets up the scoring pass. Darvin, going back to training camp, what were your initial impressions of Austin and kind of what you knew about him beforehand? And what have you learned about him through the course of this season? My impression was, you know, he just – he didn't mind taking chances. When we watch him in open gym and pick up games and whatnot, you can see right away he didn't mind taking chances in terms of, you know, scoring at all three levels, guarding different people, some smaller than him, some same size, some bigger than him. He wasn't afraid. And he's just a flat-out hooper. He just loves to hoop. And you can tell that by, you know, the way he works on his game, which has allowed him to be what he's becoming to be. And that's a consistent, high-level NBA basketball player that's multifaceted. So, just right away you could see his confidence. That's the first thing about him that jumped out at me. Darvin, I know you were saying that you talked to the group yesterday and wanted to move on. Just the energy to start, and really in both halves, did you sense that maybe Dallas was hanging over those guys a little bit or there was a little bit of a hangover? And how did the bench – you have the stat book in front of you, how much they outscored the Magic bench by. How much did the bench change the energy that you guys started out with? They completely changed it. And, you know, it's not only – you know, Dallas is a hell of a team, but it's not just them. It's guys just, you know, mentally beating themselves up about not having the type of performance or making the type of plays that they're accustomed to making when the game is on the line. Now having said that, that's a hell of a young squad down the hallway, man. Like their record doesn't reflect the type of work they put in and the trajectory that they're looking at in front of them. They're very well coached. And, again, they're young, they're athletic, they beat you up, they set physical screens, they crash the boards. They got guys that's constantly in attack mode, you know, Vaquero, Vanquero, Wagner, all these guys. Even Cole Anthony can wet you up if he gets going. Markel Foltz is a big physical strong guard that plays downhill. So, you know, don't – you can throw the records out the window, but that team down there is going to be a great team in the future. And, you know, they're playing really good physical tough basketball on both sides of the ball right now. So it's just a mixture of all those things. But, fortunately, we had some guys step up when they needed to and make big plays for us and we were able to come out with it. Darvin, outside of the 61 bench points, I mean it just felt like an all-around hustle. Also, Austin Reeves plus 25, he tied a game high with Gabriel. Schroeder plus 22. Can you talk about the moment that you put the bench in, those hustle plays that they seem to really cling on to to take leads and run with them? Yeah, man. I mean, we want to have that identity as being highly competitive and that's just not, you know, a certain collection of three or four or five players, that has to be the entire team. And, you know, making the trade that we made and acquiring the players that we acquired, it allowed for us to have more balance. And these are guys, you know, Austin could be a starter in this league, Dennis, Winyin, Rui. So you essentially have a starting five coming off your bench and they're smart enough to see what's going on out there, you know, what areas we may be struggling in and what areas we may be doing well in. And they're able to kind of correct the struggles and sustain what we're doing well. So it's great. It's great to have that balance. And they look forward to it, you know, to coming in and getting the crowd going and swinging the game into our favor. Or when they have to come in, the starters have set us off right and they're able to come in and sustain. So it's just a great luxury to have a young, deep, talented ball club. Thanks, Coach. Yep. Mike, should I start? No, I can do it for you. No, yep. I'm sorry. Nope. We're back on that. Next question. What was it like in the fourth quarter? Important game to hear this crowd chant MVP for you as you shot and made mostly. I missed a couple. Important free throws. Yeah, I mean, like I told Mike, on the court, you know, I try to, every time I take the court, play with a sense of urgency and, you know, leave it all out on the floor because, I mean, I just feel like that's how basketball should be played. Any sport, you should give it 110% at all times. Obviously, that's never sustainable. But for them to, you know, recognize, you know, what I do, obviously not an MVP caliber player. There's guys that are really good. But for them to do that for me is special and means a lot to me. So, you know, shout out Lakeland Nation. Austin, you've looked especially decisive on your drives tonight, on some of your pull-ups, four and ones tonight for you. Just how has your confidence and sort of the speed that you try to operate grown over the course of this season? Yeah, I mean, the game's way different than college. That whole year last year is, you know, was kind of a year for me to, you know, figure a lot of stuff out. You know, I've said many a times I'm not the most athletic person in the world. I'm not the best at, you know, anything. But I think that I'm really good at a lot of things. So last year was kind of a year that I had to fill things out. Like I didn't hit the ground running like I, you know, really wanted to. But like I said earlier, it's all about, you know, effort. And, you know, how you approach the game. And like all year last year and then even the start of this year, you know, it's a learning curve for me. So I've only been in the league for, you know, almost two years now. So every game that I've played in the past has been a learning experience. Austin, you say you're not the best at anything, but you try to be good at a bunch of things. And I know that scoring isn't necessarily how you judge your game. But what's it like to be the guy scoring the last 10 points in a game that the team needs to have? I mean, especially you grow up. I mean, I grew up a Lakers fan. So, you know, to do it, you know, for this organization especially is surreal. You know, sometimes I got to stop and, you know, really think about, you know, what I am doing. Obviously I think all the odds are stacked against me from where I'm from. You know, I play baseball a lot. Didn't really play basketball. Only played one year AAU. But to be at this level and this organization and, you know, to ultimately, like you said, score the last 10 points is special. And, you know, all I'm really happy about is the win. Austin, career high 16 free throw makes, career high 18 free throw attempts. How have you kind of added that part into your game? It feels like you've obviously always had it, but you've really taken it to a different level these last couple months. Just your ability to draw fouls and then kind of read how a defender is guarding you. Like I was talking about, it's a learning curve. I mean, you can, you know, obviously watch, you know, games. And, you know, people in the past, James Harden, Trey Young, when he comes up ball screens and people are trying to fight over because he's, you know, such a good playmaker, floater, shooter, that if you get it going earlier, you know, that they got to, you know, try to contest, like rear view contest. So you can pick spots here and there to use their, what word am I looking for, use their speed and energy to try to get back in front to draw a foul like that or stuff like that. So, I mean, I've watched James Harden, you know, like I said, Trey, to masters at that and kind of try to, you know, put it into my game. Austin, of course, you just talked to your teammates, but LeBron tweeted, hey, are you a bad mother, shut your mouth, you too tough, stuff like some emojis, et cetera. Of course, you get the, I try not to do that. That's the first time I heard that. Yeah, I believe you, I believe you. You tried to, you clearly, you know, can feel the crowd, right, in there. But how about just getting that from your teammates and specifically LeBron at this point in your career and kind of feeling that level of acceptance and respect? You know, it's not just, you know, a player. You know, you're talking about, you know, arguably one of the greatest players ever. And for SportsCenter for airing me out for a tweet or a post that I made in 2012 about LeBron, I appreciate that. Yeah, I mean, I don't know. I mean, I don't know what to say. You know, for him to, you know, accept me the way that he accepted me from day one, obviously I felt like there was a really good chemistry IQ-wise from day one. But not just him, everybody else. I mean, I think it was Dennis and B's, you know, throwing water on me on the court. You know, stuff like that means a lot to me. And, you know, looking back in 20 years when hopefully I'm retired playing golf every day, you know, I can tell my kids and my grandkids that, you know, arguably the greatest player ever is the social media. So it'll be around forever. So they'll believe me actually. Austin, congrats on a tremendous game. Outside of those 35 points, you tied a game high with Gabriel of plus 25 on the court. But really for most of the game, you were leading in that category, which kind of shows your hustle on both ends. Did you come out with more of a sense of urgency knowing that the season is winding down, coming off that last loss? Yeah, I mean, thank you. I try to, you know, play to that level of intensity every night. 82 games is a lot, so it's kind of hard to sustain throughout the whole year. But with the position that we're in, you know, every game really matters. So tonight was, you know, started out as just another game that, you know, we had to go win and, you know, things went my way. And like you said, plus minus, you know, winning at 25, Dennis at 22. You know, that's really if you have that from your bench, it's going to be hard for, you know, teams to beat us because, you know, our starting five most nights are plus tens. So, you know, shout out to, you know, everybody on the team for contributing in a big win. Thank you. Another double-double for A.D. in the win along with four blocks. He's speaking in the locker room with Brez. A.D., the obvious starting point, Austin Reeves in his 35 points. What did you think out there tonight from him? Played extremely well, man. He carried us tonight with his play. Got whatever he wanted, pick a row, threes, got to the line, I think 18 times. So, well, 18 attempts. We know what we have in Austin. He's very confident when he played that way tonight. Sixty-one points from the bench too. Obviously he got most of that, but still some pretty good contributions there. Yeah. Winning. Came in, played great. Rui came in, had a stretch. I think we scored like six straight. You know, he played well. Dennis, you know, comes in and plays extremely well. So, you know, we needed every bit of everyone tonight. Austin has had Friday, can hang around a little while. How much did you feel like you guys as a team were fighting that, and how much did the bench energy and Austin's energy maybe change? I don't think we were fighting it. You know, the team obviously isn't playing for anything and they're one of the toughest teams to beat, just like it was in Houston. You know, they played free energy. You know, they're a tough team to beat. They can hurt you. So, you know, Austin obviously got going. You know, our second unit came in and got going. But, you know, it's always in the back of your mind, you know. But we knew this was a must win for us, and we wanted to do whatever we could to secure this victory. You guys have been singing Austin's praises for a while now and certainly trusting his game. Do you remember a turning point last year where it changed for you, just he was a promising young player to a guy that, oh, like, he could be a part of something here? Yeah, early in the season. He just made the right plays. You know, he listened a lot. He was a sponge from all our guys that were here. I mean, we had a veteran group last year. So he was able to soak up a lot of information and apply it fairly quickly. And then you can see all of that, you know, coming out this year. You know, especially when he has to step up and play huge for us. So, you know, from day one we kind of knew what we had in Austin. And, you know, he just constantly gets better and better, make the right plays, you know, as we're comfortable with the ball in his hands and play game. And he's going to make the right reads. So I knew early on the type of player he could be, and he's showcasing it now. You mentioned the 18 free throws. What type of growth have you seen from him in terms of his ability to draw fouls? You mentioned studying James Harden, Trey Young. Yeah. He gets a lot of those calls, you know. Me and Brian joke about it. Like, man, we wish we could get some of those. But, yeah, man, as a guard, you know, he's able to, I don't want to say manipulate the game, but to see how the game is being called and, you know, use it to his advantage. Like Trey Young and James Harden, you know, guys who get a lot of free throws. So he's able to take that to his advantage and get to the line. Anthony, the starting lineup is obviously a lot different when LeBron's in there with you and not had some really early success. Just wondering, what do you guys have to do to find a rhythm that maybe hasn't been there as much the last couple games with that group, especially when LeBron's not there with you? I think the last couple games we kind of struggled, but I think overall that lineup has been good for us. You know, play fast. You know, I think, you know, just how we did in that New Orleans game, you know, we came out strong defensively and we're just running. You know, it's hard to play our style of basketball, which is getting off the glass and anyone's pushing and the other four guys are running when we're not getting stopped. So that first five best offenses, no offense to run in transition and getting easy buckets and playing with the ball hopping and guys getting in rhythm and make shots. So we just got to get back buckling down to our defensive IQ and our defensive identity and then we'll be fine. Thanks, Sadie. Just give me eight of these last 11. Oh, you move all the way up. I mean, the one game alone in the Dallas game, we would have been in seventh. Everybody's losing. Yeah. Everybody's got problems. Everyone's got injuries. Injuries. I've never seen so many injuries around the league. I do want to talk a little AD. Listen, he had 15 points at 11 rebounds. He had the four blocks. He had a couple of steals. But one thing when you're watching that game, big game, James, is that he's the anchor of this defense and that's where he shows the value every single night. He doesn't have to score 30 on a team like this that has more depth now and when the other guys have it going, sometimes his offense is going to be beast mode and no one can stop him. Other times, maybe it's someone else. He can't dominate every night. He's not a point guard like LeBron can decide on certain things because he has the ball a lot of times. But AD is a little different. Sometimes they stack up on him and he has to get rid of the ball. But his defense and his rebound is always something that we can depend on. Yeah, the thing about AD, we always expect so much out of guys with so much talent. And when he doesn't average 30 points a night, we kind of be like, man, he didn't average 30. But we do have to understand there's two sides of this game. You got football. I mean, like football, you can walk off the field and not play defense. You got to play defense in basketball. And AD gets back there, blocks a lot of shots. And the one thing that also doesn't show up in stats is that people know AD is a shot blocker, so they don't go in there. They stop short and pull up, which allows people to get blocked from behind and things of that nature. So sometimes we are critical on the great players, sometimes too much. But they expect that because they make the big bucks. They make the big bucks and that's part of it. We talked about that in the pregame show when we broke down that final 15 seconds from AD. When the spotlight is on you and you are the max guy and you're the star player, and I know AD takes it hard and he takes a lot of accountability. That's part of it, right, big gang? Absolutely. That's how the great players become greater. And if he wants to get to that point, he will have to accept those responsibilities. We have a horrible show. It is on YouTube. More to come on ACCESS. 18 points and 6 assists for D'Angelo Russell. He's in the locker room with breads. D'Lo, 35 points from Austin Reeves tonight. When you see an effort like that, what goes through your mind on that court? Well, well, well deserved. More than capable. Honestly, just not being surprised. He's capable. We get to that free throw line. We dominate the game from a lot of different levels. So kudos. He had 10 points in the last minute and a half, most from the free throw line, too. Huge. I mean, what more do you want me to say? Dude's a killer. How about your game tonight? Obviously, the team had trouble shooting the last couple games. Not the case tonight. Yeah, I mean, everybody pitched in, I think. Defensively, it was the low-scoring game and guys were locking in on their coverages and just kept the game simple. I mean, we got a lot of points in transition, just running and getting stopped. So if we can get out of here like that and grind it out and make the game easier for us, it's fine, too. Real cool with that. You mentioned grinding out. How key was that after what happened here the other night? I mean, it's tough. Way to respond. Way to respond as a group. Games like that in the NBA where shots like that go in, where situations like that you don't expect and they happen. So it's big. It is what it is. Way to respond from our group. You guys are now in a tie for ninth. Had you lost, you would have slid to twelfth. How crazy is that to think about, like, how stacked and jammed these Western Conference standings are right now? I mean, everybody's solid. I mean, I think anything can happen. Everybody's solid, like I said. So every game is going to be a new change. Try not to get too caught up in it. You know, just try to take it one game at a time and win the games that we perform, I mean, that we play in. Just go from there. Bench, 61 points tonight, most from Austin, but other contributions, too. Dennis was huge. Rui had a stint. I think everybody's winning. Gabriel, sorry about that, winning. Gabriel. Just everybody pitched in. Thanks for the talk. Thank you.