{"id":259034,"date":"2025-11-03T15:22:12","date_gmt":"2025-11-03T15:22:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/259034\/"},"modified":"2025-11-03T15:22:12","modified_gmt":"2025-11-03T15:22:12","slug":"jake-laravia-wont-be-unknown-to-lakers-fans-much-longer-with-games-like-this","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/259034\/","title":{"rendered":"Jake LaRavia won’t be unknown to Lakers fans much longer with games like this"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Lakers called a time out with 9:35 remaining in the fourth quarter Sunday in an attempt to slow down a Miami Heat team that had sliced a once 18-point Lakers lead to three points. Out of the time out, the ball wound up in the hands of, not Luka Doncic<\/a> or Austin Reaves<\/a>, but Jake LaRavia.<\/p>\n

It was up to LaRavia to deliver in a pretty big moment, and he did so emphatically with a left-handed dunk over Heat 7-0 center Kel\u2019el Ware.<\/p>\n

The Lakers\u2019 lead never dipped below four points the rest of the way.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have no idea,\u201d LaRavia said when asked how he pulled off the dunk over a taller defender. \u201cThis was the first time I dunked, I think, in a long time with my left hand and I just saw an open lane. I was aggressively attacking it and he kind of jumped a little bit late. So, I went up to go dunk the ball for the first time because I was just trying to lay it up.\u201d<\/p>\n

It was yet another night in which LaRavia, who had 25 points, eight rebounds and four steals, was aggressive for the Lakers, playing a prominent role in the Lakers\u2019 130-120 win over<\/a> the Heat on Sunday night at Crypto.com Arena.<\/p>\n

In his last three games, LaRavia has been on a tear.<\/p>\n

He had 13 points on five-for-eight shooting and five rebounds at Memphis last Friday night and he had 27 points on 10-for-11 shooting, including going five-for-six from three-point range last Wednesday night at Minnesota.<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, I just happened to be scoring a lot of points recently,\u201d LaRavia said. \u201cI\u2019m making a lot of shots, like, at the end of the day. The game against Minnesota I missed one shot. This game I missed three shots so obviously when I\u2019m playing, shooting the ball 80% or higher, I\u2019m going to score a lot. But again, I preach this every time I talk to the media, it\u2019s very easy to play with Luka and AR. A lot of my buckets are running past the defense in transition, just running harder than the other team and getting those dunks or those layups, and then just shooting the catch-and-shoot threes when I get them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Even if fans don\u2019t know his name, they are starting to recognize LaRavia for his scoring exploits.<\/p>\n

During the game at Minnesota, fans yelled, \u201cWho is No. 12?\u201d<\/p>\n

That is LaRavia\u2019s number.<\/p>\n

\u201cI kind of put my hands up like this and I kind of agreed with them, \u2018Who is No. 12?\u2019 I kind of played into it a little bit,\u201d LaRavia said. \u201cI find that kind of stuff funny, cause I am not well known at this moment so I\u2019m just head down, working hard. That\u2019s all I do.\u201d<\/p>\n

Well, during Sunday night\u2019s game, Lakers fans joked, \u201cWho is No. 12?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI heard it about three times,\u201d he said. \u201cI think it\u2019s good. Shout-out (Minnesota\u2019s) Anthony Edwards for allowing that clip to go viral. Yeah, I think it\u2019s good. I think it\u2019s funny.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jaxson Hayes stars in his role \"Jaxson <\/p>\n

Jaxson Hayes and Jake LaRavia share a moment during the second half Sunday.<\/p>\n

(Eric Thayer \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n

Jaxson Hayes came to the post-game podium wearing a Dodgers jersey, one he had received with his name and the No. 11 on the back from throwing out the first-pitch at a game.<\/p>\n

Hayes talked about how \u201chyped\u201d he was to see the Dodgers win the World Series over the Toronto Blue Jays Saturday night.<\/p>\n

\u201cI used to be a Reds fan, but then they canceled on me throwing out the first pitch a few times, so now I\u2019m a Dodgers fan,\u201d Hayes said. \u201cAnd then, yeah, I was hyped. That game was crazy. I didn\u2019t really get into baseball until I moved out here and now I watch a lot of the Dodgers games. It was wild.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hayes started at center for the Lakers against the Heat because Deandre Ayton was sidelined with back spasms.<\/p>\n

Hayes was on his game, catching lob passes for dunks, being active running the floor in scoring 15 points and grabbing five rebounds. He made all seven of his shots.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy guards give me good looks,\u201d Hayes said. \u201cI just do the same thing every night. It just depends on how the defense is. Sometimes it might just be them hitting me in the pocket, me hitting a corner. Other nights, it might be me getting dunks. Other nights, it\u2019s the guard coming off for layups. So, I mean, it\u2019s just really the guards get me going.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hayes even drilled a three-pointer, his first of the season.<\/p>\n

Bronny James plays important minutes \"Bronny <\/p>\n

Bronny James dunks during the first half against Miami on Sunday.<\/p>\n

(Eric Thayer \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n

Bronny James played almost seven minutes in the fourth quarter, a sign of the faith Lakers coach JJ Redick has in his second-year guard.<\/p>\n

James played a little over 11 minutes overall, scoring just two points, but notching three steals.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought he was really good on the ball,\u201d Redick said. \u201cHe got a steal off the ball, but I thought he was really good on the ball.\u201d<\/p>\n

James\u2019 basket came off a lob pass from Reaves on the fast break, a dunk that had the crowd on its feet and his teammates leaping off the bench, including his dad, LeBron James, who is still out with sciatica.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Lakers called a time out with 9:35 remaining in the fourth quarter Sunday in an attempt to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":259035,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[434],"tags":[37041,49,48,1112,2817,3609,12886,45841,120258,120259,13527,2598,459,10488,1463,114202,2732,82,7479],"class_list":["post-259034","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-ball","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-game","tag-guard","tag-heat","tag-jake-laravia","tag-jaxson-hayes","tag-lakers-fan","tag-left-handed-dunk","tag-lot","tag-minnesota","tag-nba","tag-night","tag-point","tag-rebound","tag-shot","tag-sports","tag-time"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/259034","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=259034"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/259034\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/259035"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=259034"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=259034"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=259034"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}