Reeves went crazy, Munch went crazy. On April 11, Beijing time, the Lakers defeated the Nuggets 146-141 in overtime in the final game of the season. The Lakers had a big explosion, With Munch contributing 41 points and 4 rebounds, shooting 7-of-14 from three-point range, and Reeves played his first career triple-double with 31 points, 16 rebounds and 10 assists. Gabriel had 14 points and 10 rebounds. After the game, ESPN famously broke the news that this game will be the last game of Vogel as a Lakers game. Lakers management expects to tell Vogel the news as soon as Tuesday Beijing time. At present, the Lakers have no front-runner in the manager.
The Lakers' Big Three missed the game, with Howard, Bazemore and Bradley also missing, a game that was clearly meant to give young players a chance to exercise.
There was a magical scene in the fourth quarter of this game, with 1 minute left in the game, the Nuggets Marcus Howard hit two free throws, 135-126 lead by 9 points, it looks like the Lakers are basically out of the game. However, McLaren, a two-way contract player the Lakers just signed, scored a magical 3+1, and Rivers threw a three-pointer with 17 seconds left in the game to chase the score to 133-135. The Nuggets called a timeout, but after the timeout, Rivers snatched Forbes, and then he scored on a layup to equalize. Reeves, who had already played a triple-double, dragged the game into overtime with a crucial five-pointer.
In overtime, Reeves continued to threaten, he scored on a layup, hit a shot, and with 48.8 seconds left in overtime, Reeves hit a three-point shot to help the Lakers lead by five points. The Lakers eventually won the game. In this game, Reeves scored a key 5 points with 17 seconds left in the final quarter, and he scored 7 points in overtime, becoming the number one contributor to the Lakers' reversal of the Nuggets.
The magical Reeves was originally a draft loser, signed a two-way contract with the Lakers, and was regularized with a good performance, and now he shines in the starting lineup. In the last four games of the season, Reeves scored in double figures.
Reeves became the fourth rookie in NBA history to cut at least 30 points, 15 rebounds and 10 assists in a single game, the top three being Oscar Robertson (5 times), Jerry West, and Blake Griffin.
The Lakers relied on Reeves at key moments and overtime in the final quarter, and most of the time in this game, the Lakers relied on Munch to support the team, he shot inside and outside, and shot down 41 points, giving the Lakers still have a chance to reverse the game. The 41 points set a new career-high for Munch. His previous career-high score was 36.
It's harder for the Lakers to keep Munch because the Lakers can only give Munch a mini-middle-class contract at most, with an annual salary of only $6.4 million. Munch is likely to receive an offer for an annual salary of about $10 million.
The Lakers will be busy with the change of coach at the end of the season, according to espnon reports, the Lakers will fire Vogel, before the media predicted candidates, but according to ESPN, there is no front-runner now.