Less than a minute into Monday's game between the Los Angeles Lakers and the Atlanta Hawks, Austin Reaves got posterized by Jalen Johnson. Lakers reporter Dan Woike brought up the play during Reaves' postgame press conference and a hilarious conversation followed.
Dan Woike: "It would be negligent not to ask you Austin but,"
Austin Reaves: "See, this is why I don't like you."
Dan Woike: "I know, I am a good reporter. What happened on that first play?"
Austin Reaves: "Everybody seen what happened."
Dan Woike: "Nobody had your view."
Austin Reaves: "You don't want my view... I think that might be the first time I've ever been really dunked on. So, I made it a really long time without being very athletic, picking my spots to get out of the way. Tried to take a charge, I don't know, super athletic kid and he got one. The longer I play the game I'm sure it's going to happen again so ain't too worried about it."
Here is that crazy dunk by Johnson, in case you missed it.
I would agree with Reaves that no one wants that view. You admire the fact that the 25-year-old tried to take a charge there but the play ended horribly for him. Fortunately for Reaves, Anthony Edwards had pulled off arguably the dunk of the year by posterizing John Collins earlier that night. That took some of the attention away from him getting dunked on by Johnson.
Johnson would go on to finish the night with a team-high 25 points to go with 9 rebounds, 4 assists, and 1 block. The 22-year-old's play here was arguably the only positive for the Hawks, as the Lakers comfortably won 136-105.
Reaves, meanwhile, had 12 points, 6 rebounds, 4 assists, 1 steal, and 1 block to help get the win, as the Lakers improved to 37-32. LA had lost two in a row coming into this one and desperately needed to avoid another defeat here. The Hawks had jumped out to an 11-2 lead but the Lakers then seized control to blow them out.
The Lakers have now climbed back to ninth in the standings in the West with this win, but if they are to avoid the Play-In Tournament, they'll need to be a lot more consistent.
Jalen Johnson Is Having A Breakout Season
Johnson was drafted with the 20th pick of the 2021 NBA Draft by the Hawks and made little to no impact on the court in his first two seasons. He averaged just 4.9 points, 3.3 rebounds, 0.9 assists, 0.4 steals, and 0.4 blocks per game in that time and it appeared as if the Hawks might have made a mistake by picking up.
Johnson then came off the bench to start this 2023-24 season as well, but played so well, that the Hawks inserted him into the starting lineup just a few games in. He has shown now that Atlanta did not make a mistake by making him a starter.
Following this display against the Lakers, Johnson is averaging 16.1 points, 8.6 rebounds, 3.5 assists, 1.1 steals, and 0.9 blocks per game this season. He has displayed that he has what it takes to be a very good two-way player in the league for the years to come and in him, the Hawks have a nice piece for the future.
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