The Los Angeles Lakers won 121-116 in Detroit tonight without Luka Dončić, and one line in the box score explains the whole evening. Austin Reaves scored 43 points — more than a third of everything the Lakers put on the board — on 14-of-27 shooting, and did not miss a free throw in eleven tries. That is the A on this page, and it is the only one.
The margin never needed much more than that, which is also the problem with it. Nine Lakers played ten minutes or more and four of them finished in single figures. A five-point road win carried by one man is still a win, but it grades like one.
Austin Reaves Scored 43 and the Lakers Needed Every One
Austin Reaves — A. 43 points on 14-of-27 shooting, 4-of-6 from three and 11-of-11 from the line, in 37 minutes, with four assists against a single turnover. His rate through the Lakers’ first ten games is 23.5 points on 50.7 percent shooting, so tonight was nearly double his scoring at a shade better than his usual field-goal percentage, with a perfect night at the line stacked on top. That combination — volume up, efficiency up, in the game where the team’s leading scorer did not dress — is the one that earns the top grade.
Seventeen Points Each From Two Men Under Twenty-Five Minutes
Ziaire Williams — A-. 17 points in 21 minutes on 6-of-10 shooting, 4-of-8 from three, with no turnovers. Williams averages 10.3 points in 24.6 minutes this season, so he beat his own rate by better than half while playing less, and 17 points on ten field-goal attempts and two free throws is the most efficient line of any Laker who took more than five shots tonight. The only thing keeping him off the top of this page is who was already there.
Collin Sexton — B+. 17 points in 24 minutes on 5-of-10 shooting and 7-of-8 from the free-throw line. His season rate is 8.7 points in 16.6 minutes, so this was roughly double the production on a modest bump in minutes, and eight trips to the line made him the cleanest source of points the Lakers had after Reaves. Two assists against two turnovers is what keeps it from going higher.
Twenty-Six Rebounds From Two Big Men in Forty-Three Minutes
Walker Kessler — B+. 12 points on 5-of-10, 16 rebounds with seven of them offensive, four assists and three blocks in 29 minutes. He averages 10.4 rebounds and 2.4 blocks, so both came in above his level, and seven offensive boards in a game decided by five points are worth more than the scoring line reads. Four turnovers from a center who took ten shots is what holds this at a B+, and against 71.6 percent season shooting, 5-of-10 is a quiet night.
Jarred Vanderbilt — B. 10 rebounds in 14 minutes, with three assists, a block and 2 points on his only shot. Vanderbilt averages 1.2 points a game and nobody grades him on scoring; a rebound every 84 seconds was the fastest rate of any Laker on the floor by a distance, Kessler included. Two turnovers in 14 minutes is the single blemish on an otherwise emphatic shift.
Matisse Thybulle and Sandro Mamukelashvili Came Out Level
Matisse Thybulle — C+. 4 points on 2-of-5, 0-of-3 from three, with four steals in 28 minutes. The steals are a genuine contribution and no other Laker had more than one all night, but Thybulle shoots 41.9 percent from three on the season, and missing all three attempts across 28 minutes leaves the offense playing a man short. Useful at one end, close to absent at the other.
Sandro Mamukelashvili — C+. 7 points on 3-of-5 shooting in 18 minutes, with three rebounds and no assists against two turnovers. That is almost exactly his season rate of 8.8 points in 23.1 minutes, delivered efficiently, which is more or less the definition of neutral. Three rebounds in 18 minutes from a big man, on a night the two bigs around him pulled 26 between them, is the part that stands out.
Twelve Shots and One Rebound in Thirty-Two Minutes
Quentin Grimes — C. 12 points on 4-of-12 shooting in 32 minutes, 2-of-5 from three, with one rebound. Grimes averages 7.6 points in 25.5 minutes, so the raw total sits above his rate, but 4-of-12 is the lowest field-goal percentage of any Laker who took more than five shots tonight, and he is already taking the fewest three-pointers of his career. One rebound in 32 minutes from the man playing the second-most minutes on the team compounds it; four assists against two turnovers is the part that works.
Jake LaRavia — C-. 5 points on three field-goal attempts in 29 minutes, with one rebound and two assists. LaRavia shoots 56.8 percent and averages 6.4 points in 23.4 minutes, so this came in below his rate on fewer shots than he normally takes despite more time on the floor. He did not turn the ball over once and finished plus-three, which is why this is not a D — but 29 minutes producing five points, one rebound and two assists is a shift that barely registers.
Below the Minutes Floor, and the Did Not Plays
Adou Thiero played eight minutes and finished with 2 points on his only attempt, two rebounds and a turnover. That is under the ten-minute floor, so no letter.
Luka Dončić did not play; the Lakers listed him out with low back tightness. Kevon Looney, Lawson Lovering, Bronny James, Jaden Hardy and Cameron Carr did not play.
For comparison, here are our grades from the Lakers’ win over the Portland Trail Blazers.
How We Grade
| Grade | What it means |
|---|---|
| A | Won them the game |
| B | Did his job, at his level or better |
| C | Neutral — present, not decisive |
| D | They were worse for his minutes |
| F | Actively cost them the game |
Grades weigh production against opportunity and against each player’s own rate through 10 games, plus up to half a grade of judgment, noted where used.
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