By ASSOCIATED PRESS
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Austin Reaves swished the 12-foot winner in the lane right before the buzzer to finish with 28 points and lift the Los Angeles Lakers to a 116-115 victory on Wednesday, Oct. 29, after the Minnesota Timberwolves had taken the lead with a late 14-2 run.
Reaves matched his career high with 16 assists, Jake LaRavia had 27 points on 10-for-11 shooting, and DeAndre Ayton added 17 points and 10 rebounds for the Lakers, who built a 20-point late in the third quarter and were up 112-101 after a 3-pointer by Reaves with 4:01 left.
Julius Randle, who led the Wolves with 33 points, capped the furious rally by dropping in the go-ahead finger roll with 10.2 seconds left. Jaden McDaniels added 30 points and seven rebounds for the Wolves.
The star power of this game was considerably diminished with Luka Doncic and LeBron James sidelined for the Lakers and Anthony Edwards out for the Wolves. Reaves, who had a career-high 51 points in a win over Sacramento on Sunday and 41 points in defeat by Portland on Monday, has had something to say with his play about that.
Edwards plopped himself in the middle of the bench and chatted up just about anybody within earshot including some back-and-forth trash talk with LaRavia after a couple of his corner 3s.
The Lakers were hardly themselves, missing four of their five primary ballhandlers with Doncic, James, Marcus Smart and Gabe Vincent all injured. Backup center Jaxon Hayes returned from a knee injury that kept him out the last two games.
Reaves sure took care of that, flying all over the court to craftily work the pick-and-roll with Ayton or finding LaRavia or Dalton Knecht (15 points) when the defense converged on him.
Meanwhile in Dallas, Brandon Williams scored 20 and Dwight Powell scored 18 points as the Mavericks beat the Indiana Pacers, 107-105, in a matchup of injured-depleted teams.
Indiana had a chance to win when Aaron Nesmith grabbed an offensive rebound after RayJ Dennis intentionally missed a second free throw with 3.4 seconds left, but Nesmith’s desperation 3-pointer missed.
Dallas’ bench contributed a season-high 64 points as the Mavericks (2-3) completed a season-opening five-game homestand, the longest since a five-gamer by the 1983-84 Kansas City Kings.
The Mavericks’ Cooper Flagg, the No. 1 pick in last summer’s NBA draft, had his second double-double with 15 points (most among Dallas starters) and 10 rebounds.
Pascal Siakam had 27 points and 13 rebounds and Jarace Walker scored a career-high 20 points for the Pacers, who are 0-4 for the first time since they opened the 1988-89 season with nine losses.
Dallas’ Anthony Davis left late in the first quarter with lower left-leg soreness and didn’t return. Davis was listed as available in the pregame injury report with bilateral Achilles tendinopathy. Coach Jason Kidd said Davis tried to return but the team didn’t want to take any chances and will see how he feels going forward.
Davis was making his second straight start at center instead of power forward with Dereck Lively II missing his second consecutive game with a knee sprain.
Earlier, Ja Morant scored 28 points — including a go-ahead 11-foot jumper with 7.6 seconds remaining — to push the Memphis Grizzlies past the Phoenix Suns, 114-113.
The Suns trailed 99-89 midway through the fourth, but rallied to tie at 108 on Devin Booker’s jumper with 2:23 left. Mark Williams had a dunk with 51.4 seconds to give Phoenix a 113-112 lead.
The teams traded scoreless possessions before Santi Aldama found Morant for the game-deciding bucket. Booker — who scored 16 of his 32 points in the fourth quarter — had a potential game-winning 3 bounce off the rim at the buzzer.
