Austin Reaves leaves Raptors Game with scary injury

Los Angeles Lakers starting shooting guard Austin Reaves’ health was the only gloomy element in an otherwise dominant first half for LA against the Toronto Raptors on Friday night.

The 6-foot-5 swingman appeared to collide knees with Toronto second-year guard Gradey Dick—who Dave McMenamin of ESPN notes it’s the same knee he hit during LA’s 134-110 win over the Cleveland Cavaliers on Wednesday. Sore Jovan Buha from The AthleticReaves left the Lakers bench and headed to the team’s locker room before the end of the first half.

Reaves is currently the Lakers’ third leading scorer through two quarters. In just 14:13, he has scored 13 points on 4-of-6 shooting from the field and a team-high 5-of-6 shooting from the charity stripe. Reaves has also already dished out four dimes, pulled down a rebound and had a steal.

The Lakers are obliterating Toronto so far.

Los Angeles is off to an epic 76-51 start in the opening half against a battered Raptors club. The Lakers enjoy big advantages in field goal conversion rate (62 percent to Toronto’s 39 percent), 3-pointers made (5-of-12 to the Raptors’ 2-of-14), rebounds (25-19) and points in the paint ( 44-32).

All-NBA superstars LeBron James and Anthony Davis have shown off their underrated two-man game with some impressive sequences.

Davis currently leads the Lakers with 19 points on 8-of-10 shooting from the field and 3-of-4 shooting from the foul line, eight rebounds, two assists, two steals and two blocks. James already has 18 points on 7-of-11 shooting from the floor (3-of-5 from long range) and 1-of-2 shooting from the foul line, five assists, two rebounds and a steal.

has already tallied 18 points on 7-of-11 shooting from the floor (3-of-5 from long range) and 1-of-2 shooting from the foul line, five assists, two rebounds and a steal.

Given how well this game is going, it may be up to first-year Los Angeles head coach JJ Redick to hold Reaves out of the second half of the contest as a precaution. LA probably doesn’t need him to beat this injury-plagued Raptors team. Toronto is missing All-Star forward Scottie Barnes, veteran center Kelly Olynyk and guard Immanuel Quickley, among others.

Gradey Dick led the Raptors with 14 points on 6-of-16 shooting from the field.

UPDATE:

Boo reports that Reaves has been checked out by team doctors, and has been given the green light to suit up for the second half of the contest.

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