MINNEAPOLIS -- Austin Reaves swished the 12-foot winner in the lane right before the buzzer to finish with 28 points and lift the Los Angeles Lakers to a 116-115 victory on Wednesday (Thursday in Manila) after the Minnesota Timberwolves had taken the lead with a late 14-2 run.
Reaves matched his career high with 16 assists, Jake LaRavia had 27 points on 10-for-11 shooting, and DeAndre Ayton added 17 points and 10 rebounds for the Lakers, who built a 20-point late in the third quarter and were up 112-101 after a 3-pointer by Reaves with 4:01 left.
Julius Randle, who led the Wolves with 33 points, capped the furious rally by dropping in the go-ahead finger roll with 10.2 seconds left. Jaden McDaniels added 30 points and seven rebounds for the Wolves.
FOR THE WIN Los Angeles Lakers guard Austin Reaves shoots and scores the game-winning shot at the buzzer in an NBA basketball game against the Minnesota Timberwolves on Oct. 29, 2025, in Minneapolis. AP PHOTO
The star power of this game was considerably diminished with Luka Doncic and LeBron James sidelined for the Lakers and Anthony Edwards out for the Wolves.
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Reaves, who had a career-high 51 points in a win over Sacramento on Sunday and 41 points in defeat by Portland on Monday, has had something to say with his play about that.
Edwards plopped himself in the middle of the bench and chatted up just about anybody within earshot including some back-and-forth trash talk with LaRavia after a couple of his corner 3s.
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The Lakers were hardly themselves, missing four of their five primary ballhandlers with Doncic, James, Marcus Smart and Gabe Vincent all injured. Backup center Jaxon Hayes returned from a knee injury that kept him out the last two games.
Reaves sure took care of that, flying all over the court to craftily work the pick-and-roll with Ayton or finding LaRavia or Dalton Knecht (15 points) when the defense converged on him.
Celtics 125, Cavs 105
In Boston, Jaylen Brown scored 30 points, including 13 during a 20-3 run to end the first half that helped the Boston Celtics pull away from Cleveland and snap the Cavaliers' three-game winning streak.
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Sam Hauser scored 21 points off the bench for Boston, which has won two straight since opening the season with three losses in a row. Josh Minott had 14 rebounds, Neemias Queta had 13 and Payton Pritchard had 10 assists for the Celtics.
Evan Mobley scored 19 points with 11 rebounds and Jaylon Tyson also scored 19 for the Cavaliers. Donovan Mitchell made all four 3-point attempts for 12 points in the first quarter, when the Cavaliers led 42-40, but made just one of his last eight shots and finished with 15 points.
Boston led by 19 points midway through the third quarter and had a 98-80 advantage in the final two minutes of the third before Cleveland scored the next eight points. The Cavs never got closer than nine points from there, shooting 33 percent (8 for 24) in the fourth quarter as they failed to chip into Boston's lead.
Boston's only previous win this season was on Monday night, when they beat the winless New Orleans Pelicans.
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The teams combined for 18 3-pointers in the first quarter, one shy of the NBA record.
The Celtics had 20 assists in the first half.