Austin Reaves does it again, stuns Timberwolves with buzzer-beating floater, saving Lakers from 20-point second-half collapse

The Los Angeles Lakers tried their best to blow a 20-point lead against the Minnesota Timberwolves. But as he's done throughout the season in the absence of LeBron James and now Luka Dončić, Austin Reaves played the hero Wednesday night.

The Timberwolves roared back from a 20-point second-half deficit to take a 115-114 lead on a Julius Randle bucket with 10.2 seconds remaining while playing at home without injured superstar Anthony Edwards (hamstring).

The Lakers called timeout to set up a game-winning bucket for Reaves. And he delivered with a floater in the lane as time expired to secure a 116-115 Lakers win.

The bucket capped another sensational effort from Reaves, who continues to thrive as the Lakers' No. 1 option.

Reaves keeps on doing it

With Dončić and James both sidelined Sunday, Reaves dropped a career-high 51 points to lead a 127-120 win over the Sacramento Kings. With both sidelined again he scored 41 in a losing effort against the Portland Trail Blazers on Monday.

But there was no swallowing a loss with Wednesday's effort, which featured considerably more from Reaves than his game-ending heroics. Reaves once again led the Lakers in scoring with 28 points. And he chipped in a career-high 16 assists along with two steals.

Reaves continues to demonstrate when called upon to carry the load that he can and does.

When will Dončić, James return?

It remains unclear how much longer Reaves will carry the alpha role for the Lakers. Dončić has been sidelined since Sunday with a lower left finger sprain and a lower left leg contusion. The initial reports stated that he would be re-evaluated in a week.

James, meanwhile, has yet to play this season due to sciatica that was initially reported as expected to sideline him through mid-November. Both players remain without a precise timeline to return.

In the meantime, it remains the Austin Reaves show in Los Angeles. And so far, that's been good for a 3-2 start for a team playing without its All-NBA superstars.

Lakers nearly blew it

For most of Wednesday's game, the Lakers didn't appear to need Reaves' heroics. Behind an out-of-nowhere 27-point effort from journeyman Jake LaRavia, the Lakers took a 62-58 lead into halftime that they extended to 95-75 late in the third quarter.

They kept the Timberwolves at bay through most of the fourth and led by 16 points with 6:36 remaining. But Donte DiVincenzo scored eight of his 14 points in that final 6:36 and sparked a 24-7 rally that Randle capped with a layup in traffic over LaRavia with 10.2 seconds remaining. The bucket gave the Timberwolves their first lead of the second half.

It capped an outstanding night from Randle, who finished with a game-high 33 points alongside six assists and five rebounds while shooting 4 of 7 from 3.

But it wasn't enough to fend off Reaves, who continues to be one of the most compelling stories of the early NBA season.

Read More

Chris Evans welcomes first child with wife Alba Baptista, reports say

Chris Evans is a dad!

The "Avengers" star, 44, has welcomed his first child with wife Alba Baptista, according to reports from TMZ and People.

USA TODAY has reached out to representatives for Evans and Baptista for comment.

Evans has been married to Baptista, a 28-year-old actress best known for starring in the Netflix show "Warrior Nun," since 2023.

During an appearance at New York Comic Con that year, the Captain America actor confirmed he was a married man, sharing that the wedding was "really, really great." He noted they had two ceremonies: one in Portugal, where Baptista is from, and another on the East Coast. "They were wonderful and beautiful," Evans said at the time.

The pair have kept their relationship largely private, and it was not publicly known that they were expecting a child together. Evans, though, has previously spoken about his desire to start a family.

In an interview with People magazine in 2022 after being named the magazine's Sexiest Man Alive for that year, he said that getting married and having children is "absolutely something I want."

"Wife, kids, building a family," he told the magazine. "When you read about most of the best artists, whether it's actors, painters, writers, most of them (admit) it wasn't the work they made (that they are most proud of), it was about the relationships, the families they created, the love they found, the love they shared," Evans said at the time.

"So it's also something through my long 41 years that also rings true," he added. "Those things are the most important. I love the idea of tradition and ceremony, I had a lot of that in my life so the idea of creating that, I can't think of anything better."

Before confirming he was in a relationship with Baptista, Evans said in a 2022 interview with Shondaland that he was "laser-focused on finding a partner" to "spend (my) life with." And in 2024, he told Access Hollywood that the "title of dad is an exciting one."

Evans, who retired as Captain America in 2019's "Avengers: Endgame," is coming off a role opposite Dakota Johnson and Pedro Pascal in the romantic comedy "Materialists." While promoting the film and discussing its romantic themes, Evans told The Knot that he proposed to Baptista by learning how to say "will you marry me" in Portuguese.

"I had practiced all week," he recalled. "I practiced it so much that I'd be making breakfast and you almost start saying it out loud. You're like, 'Oh, God! That's not just a song that's stuck in my head. It's going to let the cat out of the bag.'"

Read More