Austin Reaves struggled as the Lakers’ historic streak fell 3-0

Crypto.com Arena fell silent during the fourth quarter streak Wednesday night.

Trailing by ten points to the Rockets, the Lakers ran down the floor and Austin Reaves hit a three-pointer. He missed. Deandre Ayton grabbed the rebound and threw it to Reaves. He shot the other three. He missed that one too. Ayton grabbed yet another offensive rebound. After every player on the floor fumbled the ball, LeBron James drove to the basket and threw a shot up the backboard.

That streak made Game 5 of the first-round playoff series between the Rockets and Lakers a snap.

The last time Reaves stepped on the basketball court, it was April 2 in Oklahoma City. Reaves tore his left oblique muscle early in the first quarter of that game and has missed the last four weeks.

“It’s been very difficult,” Reaves admitted of the recovery process. “I’ve been going around Los Angeles doing everything I can to get to this point.”

In his absence, the Lakers continued to move forward. They keep winning. Aside from Reaves and NBA scoring leader Luka Doncic, they built a 3-0 cushion against the Rockets while their two stars watched in street clothes from the bench.

Reaves was not in the starting lineup for the Lakers in Game 5, but when he checked the game during the first quarter he quickly realized that practicing in an empty gym will not prepare you for the speed and urgency of the playoffs. There was no runway. There are no warm-up games. There is no going back to the game state. There is no soft landing. He was thrown into the fire.

And it showed.

Reaves logged about 34 minutes back, but none of them were clean. They were not slippery. In fact, they were very heavy.

After making his first basket of the game – a three-pointer from the logo that sent the crowd into a frenzy – he couldn’t hit the beach when he was on the boat for the rest of the game. He went 4-for-16 from the field, and 2-for-8 from deep.

“I haven’t played in a while unfortunately,” Reaves admitted. “I wish I had gotten into a little more rhythm before I jumped into the fire like that…I wish I could have played better and made more shots.”

Fatigue. Time. Legs that don’t trust. That’s normal for a player who was reinstated in the middle of the season after missing the last four weeks with an injury.

The problem? The Lakers don’t have time for Reaves to find his way back.

They lost 99-93. Two consecutive defeats after taking a 3-0 lead. Suddenly, what seemed inevitable felt fragile. Suddenly, this series has teeth again.

And suddenly, Reaves isn’t just coming back—he’s on a mission to help the team close out the series.

Coach JJ Redick didn’t wear it.

“Go find the rhythm,” he said when asked about Reaves’ performance.

That is not a suggestion. That is work. And the Lakers need him to get it quickly.

“Coming out tonight for the first time in a long time, I’m cold,” Reaves said. “Then you are thrown into the fire like this.”

Reaves, a 36% shooter from beyond the arc, should have lifted the Lakers in that stretch in Game 5. Instead, he mimicked the team’s biggest problem in the past two games. Through the first three games of the series, the Lakers are averaging 47% from deep. In the last two games? That number dropped to 23%. And Reaves’ rust has only contributed to the slide.

“I missed the easy look,” Reaves admitted. “We didn’t shoot well as a team.”

But this is not about scarcity. This is about missing an opportunity.

Reaves’ return should have strengthened the Lakers. Right now, it didn’t happen.

Good news for the Lakers, Reaves has been here before.

In late December, Reaves went down with a calf strain. He missed the next five weeks before returning to Brooklyn off the bench. He was rusty. His rhythm was off. He shot 3-for-9 and 1-for-5 from three.

But two days later, in Los Angeles against the 76ers, he fumbled in his second game back. A team-high 35 points on 12-of-17 shooting and 5-of-8 from three.

We know a version of Reaves is out there, and the Lakers are betting everything it shows on Friday in Houston.

Because if not, this story stops being rusty and starts to be history. The wrong kind.

No team in NBA history has ever taken a 3-0 series lead. Only four teams in history have ever allowed a team to come back from a 3-0 series deficit to force a Game 7. That’s the rock the Lakers are riding on now.

It’s another bad Friday night, and you’re staring at the edge.

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