Austin Reaves is not himself, putting the Lakers at an even bigger disadvantage

OKLAHOMA CITY — If it’s any solace for Austin Reaves — and the somber look on his face as he sat at his locker late Tuesday night would seem to indicate that it definitely is not — this is what the Oklahoma City Thunder defense does to almost every elite scorer.Even the healthy ones.But this brutal combination of ill-timed circumstances, with the Lakers guard pushing his way back early from an oblique injury early just in time to face the most ferocious collection of ballhawks in today’s game, is like something out of that prank show with Anthony Davis that keeps popping up during commercial breaks in these playoffs. There’s no punchline coming, though. Just a straight punch to the gut of whatever minuscule chance the Luka Dončić-less Lakers had to shock the basketball world in this West semifinal series.“Yeah, he didn’t play well,” Lakers coach JJ Redick said so succinctly of Reaves afterward.