Austin Reaves scores career-high 38 as Lakers edge Brooklyn Nets

The time had come, the Lakers decided, to make a choice.

Since trading for D’Angelo Russell and playing him with Austin Reaves, the two guards pretty much alternated in the spotlight around LeBron James and Anthony Davis. The touches, the shots, the responsibility – it was usually always shared.

But gradually over the course of this season, that changed. Russell moved to the bench and Reaves became the primary ball handler. And a trade with Brooklyn in December cemented it — the Lakers had cemented it.

Reaves was supposed to be their guy.

On Friday, in Russell’s first game back in Los Angeles since being dealt to the Nets, Reaves had a career-high 38 points to help pull the Lakers over the finish line for a 102-101 win.

Russell had a chance to win the game — after a series of Reaves misses in the final two minutes — but his three-point attempt fell short.

And while Reaves and James got hot in the fourth, the game wasn’t as easy as it could have been — and they knew it early.

James backed up past midcourt and away from the Lakers’ bench after he made a three-pointer to end the first quarter. He felt that something was not quite right in the building on Friday night, that the rhythm was off and that the energy was flat.

So he put his hands in the air and asked for cheers. The crowd, having just watched 12 minutes of basketball at its mildest, reluctantly obliged.

Nothing came easy for the Lakers (22-17) against a team fresh off a 59-point loss to the Clippers. And the crowd would eventually get into it—but only when it became clear that the Lakers might actually lose.

However, James and Reaves scored 25 of the Lakers’ 30 points in the fourth quarter.

The Lakers were again without Dorian Finney-Smith, who remained away from the team due to the birth of his child. The team also learned shortly before game time that Davis would not play because of issues related to an ongoing foot problem that has kept him on the injury report for most of the past month. The Lakers had listed him as “probable” prior to Friday with plantar fasciitis, and Davis went through his normal pregame practice before being downgraded and eventually ruled out.

That should have been no excuse.

Brooklyn was without its leading scorers, Cam Thomas and Cameron Johnsonwith Johnson expected to be one of the most sought-after players before the Feb. 6 NBA trade deadline.

The Lakers have actually spoken with the Nets (14-28) about Johnson, according to people with knowledge of the situation who were not authorized to speak publicly. But the price for the 6-foot-8 forward, who is averaging 19.6 points on 42.8% shooting from three, is believed to be two first-round picks.

The Lakers could get Finney-Smith and Davis back Sunday when they play the Clippers for the first time in the Intuit Dome.