LA Lakers beat Orlando Magic to rekindle play-off hopes
Austin Reaves scored a career high 35 points as the Los Angeles Lakers rekindled their play-off push with a 111-105 win over the Orlando Magic.
D’Angelo Russell scored 18 and Anthony Davis added 15 points to end the Lakers’ two-game losing streak.
Reaves, 24, was met with chants for ‘MVP’ (most valuable player) from the crowd at the Crypto.com Arena.
“I play with a sense of urgency, leave it all out on the floor, that’s how basketball should be played,” he said.
Talking about the crowd chants, Reaves added: “For them to recognize what I do – obviously not an MVP-caliber player, those guys are really good – but for them to do that for me is special, it means a lot to me.”
The Lakers are 10th in the Western Conference, taking the last spot in the play-in tournament with 10 games of the regular season remaining.
Teams placed seventh to 10th in the Western and Eastern conferences will contest the play-in. with two teams taking the final two spots in the plays-offs.
Elsewhere, Giannis Antetokounmpo scored 22 points and achieved 13 rebounds and 10 assists as Eastern Conference leaders the Milwaukee Bucks recorded a 118-111 win over the play-off chasing Toronto Raptors.
He finished with a perfect shooting record with nine from nine field goals, and one three pointer, becoming the fourth player in NBA history with a triple-double of more than 20 points with perfect shooting.
Nikola Jokic scored his 28th triple-double of the season in the Denver Nuggets’ 108-102 victory over the Brooklyn Nets. The Nuggets lead the Western Conference by four games.