{"id":220669,"date":"2026-03-15T11:37:10","date_gmt":"2026-03-15T11:37:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/220669\/"},"modified":"2026-03-15T11:37:10","modified_gmt":"2026-03-15T11:37:10","slug":"how-austin-reaves-pulled-off-a-perfect-missed-free-throw-for-lakers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/220669\/","title":{"rendered":"How Austin Reaves pulled off a perfect missed free throw for Lakers"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Austin Reaves<\/a> doesn\u2019t practice that shot. But like so many of his athletic exploits, somehow a perfect missed free throw just comes naturally to the Lakers<\/a> guard.<\/p>\n

Reaves\u2019 expertly executed missed free throw, offensive rebound and difficult tying floater with 1.9 seconds remaining in regulation spurred the Lakers to a thrilling 127-125 overtime win<\/a> over the Denver Nuggets on Saturday.<\/p>\n

While Luka Doncic<\/a> had 30 points, 11 rebounds, 13 assists and the winning shot in overtime, Reaves had a team-high 32 points and the biggest rebound of the game.<\/p>\n

With the Lakers down by three with 5.2 seconds left, Reaves was fouled and made the first free throw. He said he was \u201cnot very\u201d confident when he received instructions to miss the second.<\/p>\n

Coach JJ Redick<\/a> set the play up to miss it to the right side because that was supposed to be the side with just one defender. When only Nikola Jokic<\/a> lined up to Reaves\u2019 left, he switched the plan.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought if I threw it fast enough, that Jokic wouldn\u2019t have the time to get his hands up to grab the ball,\u201d Reaves said.<\/p>\n

Reaves chucked up a line drive that ricocheted off the front of the rim and toward his left. Deandre Ayton<\/a> screened Jokic away from the rebound, Reaves chased it down, turned, drove baseline and tossed up a one-legged floater that went in. The game went to overtime after Denver guard Jamal Murray\u2019s half-court prayer bounced off the backboard at the buzzer.<\/p>\n

\"\" <\/p>\n

\u201cThat execution was perfection,\u201d said Doncic, who clenched both fists when Reaves\u2019 shot dropped softly through the net.<\/p>\n

No one practices missed free throws, said LeBron James<\/a>, who had 17 points, five assists and one clutch full-extension dive to save a loose ball in the fourth quarter. The unfamiliarity with the play makes it that much harder to execute.<\/p>\n

But Reaves, who excels at nearly every sport he attempts, including golf, bowling, tennis, pickleball and table tennis, just has great touch, Redick said with a shrug.<\/p>\n

Reaves said he did pull off a similar feat this summer in a pick-up style, five-minute game when he collected his own missed free throw and hit a reverse layup to tie it.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s one in a 100 in the NBA,\u201d Nuggets coach David Adelman said.<\/p>\n

Those odds couldn\u2019t be much longer than the ones Reaves already beat to get to this point.<\/p>\n

\"Lakers <\/p>\n

Lakers guard Austin Reaves celebrates during the Lakers\u2019 win over the Denver Nuggets on Saturday night.<\/p>\n

(Gina Ferazzi \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n

The under-recruited, undrafted Arkansas native<\/a> is in the midst of a career year. He is averaging 24 points, 4.8 rebounds and 5.5 assists per game. He was bound to make his first All-Star Game before being sidelined for more than a month because of a calf injury. With the Lakers surging up the Western Conference, moving into third place Saturday with their fifth straight win and their eighth in the last nine games, Reaves has three consecutive 30-point games. He is shooting 55.8% from the field in the last four games, a stretch that included significant wins over playoff contenders in the New York Knicks, Minnesota Timberwolves and the Nuggets.<\/p>\n

Reaves became the 46th undrafted player in NBA history to reach 5,000 career points this week, eclipsing the mark in Thursday\u2019s win over the Chicago Bulls. Teammates including James and Doncic count Reaves among their peers deserving of star status. Reaves balks at the idea.<\/p>\n

\u201cStill feels weird,\u201d Reaves said on Thursday of being considered a \u201cstar.\u201d \u201cI obviously have delusional confidence in myself when it comes to basketball. But when the game\u2019s over and I\u2019ve got to go home and think about it, I don\u2019t really think of myself in the category of some of these other guys. But I just enjoy playing basketball, playing the right way and continuing to get better. I really just stay low-key and hang out by myself.\u201d<\/p>\n

Reaves is \u201ca simple guy,\u201d Redick said. He likes to golf, he likes to hoop \u2014 sometimes in that specific order \u2014 and he likes his family. Reaves\u2019 face lights up anytime someone brings up his niece Ruby, who was born shortly before the season started.<\/p>\n

But Redick knows there\u2019s a \u201cwonderful duality to Austin.\u201d He\u2019s a quiet country boy. He\u2019s also capable of dropping 51 points in a game like he did<\/a> against the Sacramento Kings earlier this season. And he\u2019s confident enough to shout \u201cI\u2019m him\u201d<\/a> after making a clutch three-pointer in the playoffs.<\/p>\n

After pulling off another iconic play Saturday, Reaves had a more humble message.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love you,\u201d Reaves said to the basketball in his hands as the game went to overtime. \u201cI love you.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Austin Reaves doesn\u2019t practice that shot. But like so many of his athletic exploits, somehow a perfect missed…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":220670,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[6265,19538,32732,423,48,52,51,1415,47,50,49,7551,1954,12391,1417,2190,7556,9018,5250,2429,1543],"class_list":["post-220669","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles","tag-assist","tag-austin-reaves","tag-free-throw","tag-game","tag-la","tag-la-headlines","tag-la-news","tag-lakers","tag-los-angeles","tag-los-angeles-headlines","tag-los-angeles-news","tag-luka-doncic","tag-nikola-jokic","tag-overtime","tag-point","tag-reaves","tag-rebound","tag-second","tag-shot","tag-thursday","tag-win"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/220669","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=220669"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/220669\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/220670"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=220669"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=220669"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=220669"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}