The Los Angeles Lakers went into the second night of a back-to-back — a matchup with the young and scrappy Portland Trail Blazers — significantly shorthanded. Head coach JJ Redick had to formulate a 48-minute game plan without Luka Doncic, LeBron James, Marcus Smart, Gabe Vincent, Jaxson Hayes, Maxi Kleber or rookie Adou Thiero.
The result was Austin Reaves scoring 41 points in 39 minutes and a bench of only Bronny James, Nick Smith Jr. and Dalton Knecht in a 14-point loss to move L.A. to 2-2. Of the eight players the Lakers played for more than five minutes on Monday night, only one — Reaves — has ever been asked to run an NBA offense.