With Los Angeles Lakers missing their key players such as LeBron James and Anthony Davis, the onus was on the likes of Austin Reaves and Denis Schroder. While James is expected to be out of action for a couple of weeks, Davis was ruled out of the match against Oklahoma City Thunder due to a right foot injury.

However, in the absence of the talismanic duo, Reaves and Schroder were able to step up. The German top-scored for the Lakers with 26 points whereas Austin Reaves and Troy Brown Jr. scored 19 points each as they topped Oklahoma City Thunder by 123-117 on Wednesday night.

Reaves feels his role was different when they were playing without their big players.

“Anytime you play without your three most of all dominant guys that you run mostly everything through, the game’s going to be — I won’t say awkward, but there’s just a lot of new situations for guys and especially myself,” he said.

On the other hand, Reaves feels Oklahoma City Thunder have got a lot of talented players on their team.

“They’ve got a lot of talent there, a lot of young talent that knows how to play the game and plays hard,” Reaves said. “They’re not a bad team at all. But we needed this win and we knew that coming in.”

Meanwhile, Oklahoma City Thunder was leading by three points after the first half but the third quarter was the turning point of the game as the Lakers took it by 33-24.

“For the most part, I thought we played really hard for much of the game,” Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said. “Bounced back a couple of times, like, weathered a couple of runs and just kind of kept ourselves in it. Playing from behind like that down the stretch is tough to evaluate, but I was just impressed by the competitive level of the team tonight.”

The Los Angeles Lakers will face Minnesota Timberwolves on Friday night.