The month of March has been good to Los Angeles Lakers fans. A10-1 record, an eight-game winning streak, and Luka Doncic delivering one unbelievable performance after another.
Right now, more than ever, it makes sense that the Lakers are in Los Angeles because this month has been a literal movie. Now, in every good film, there is your main character, followed by a co-star and a third key role—this chain of importance translates perfectly to basketball.
For the Lakers, the obvious lead actor is Doncic. The guy just dropped 60 points on the Miami Heat while taking only 30 shots, and he's scored 30-plus points in his last eight games. The co-star is LeBron James, not just because of his play now, but also the reputation he carries. The third key role is Austin Reaves, but games like Thursday's against the Heat remind you why he is the type of player who makes those around him hit their highest ceiling.
Obviously, no one else on the Lakers could have scored 60 points for Luka other than himself, but the way Reaves played last night made scoring 60 so much easier for his franchise superstar.
Austin Reaves fits playing with Luka Doncic like PB fits J
With Luka scoring 21 by the end of the first half, the signs were there that another special night was brewing for the potential 2026 MVP. For Reaves, his start wasn't as smooth.
He looked out of rhythm, scoring-wise, shooting 2-for-6 in the first half. By the start of the second, you saw a switch flip in his head. From the start of the third quarter and onward, Reaves seemed way less concerned about giving the team his usual scoring production and instead took a back seat and let Luka and LeBron cook.
Reaves understood that for the Lakers to pull away against the Heat, he just needed to get as far out of Luka's way as possible and let him do his thing. This worked perfectly as Luka scored 19 in the third, and all of that scoring came off of his own self-creation; step-back threes, pull-up threes, and driving floaters.
With the playoffs approaching faster than ever, the Lakers, and more specifically Doncic, are really hitting their stride by playing their best basketball of the season. When the Lakers get to the playoffs, there will be nights where Luka needs to take over the game, simple as that.
In those games, the whole team needs to understand that they just have to defer to Luka. Having a co-star as unselfish and aware as Reaves makes those explosive performances that much easier to create.