Lakers hold off Clippers after Austin Reaves injures calf

This is how it’s going to be, the Lakers in a fight every game and those fights have physical and emotional costs.

Tuesday against Dallas, Luka Doncic faced his former team over an emotionally exhausting 48 minutes when the Lakers couldn’t exhale until the finish.

Thursday, they hosted the Minnesota Timberwolves, working their way through a night when they missed shots at the rim, shots from deep and shots from the free-throw line before willing their way to win.

And Friday, on short rest and shorthanded, they played the Clippers, a team whose success has been built on the backs of the same high-motor, tough-minded basketball that the Lakers have used to push near the top of the West.

Yet against their former Crypto.com Arena roommates, the Lakers entered the fight without Rui Hachimura, who suffered a knee strain against Minnesota. And they exited it without Austin Reaves, who they lost after just one shift.

Doncic and LeBron James were going to have to be great — and they were going to need help. Without Reaves and Hachimura, it was Gabe Vincent and Jarred Vanderbilt fighting Kawhi Leonard for real estate, Dorian Finney-Smith trying to stay in front of James Harden. It was two-way players Trey Jemison III and Jordan Goodwin winning their minutes because of toughness and grit.

None of it was easy, but for the fifth straight time and third in a row at home, the Lakers found enough, winning 106-102.

Doncic scored 31 and James had 28 points, but it was the Lakers’ bench that carried them in the little things, Vanderbilt, Jemison, Vincent and Goodwin all finishing at least plus-11 during their minutes.

Reaves, in the midst of his best season as a pro, left Friday’s game with the Lakers because of a calf injury. He’s expected to undergo an MRI scan on Saturday to determine the severity.

Reaves played nine minutes in the first quarter before checking out and heading back to the Lakers’ locker room.

Reaves has started 52 games this season for the Lakers, averaging 19.3 points, 4.3 rebounds and 6.1 assists.

Calf injuries are notoriously tricky in the NBA, with Doncic missing time with a recurring calf problem. He missed approximately seven weeks after suffering a calf strain on Christmas while a member of the Dallas Mavericks.

Reaves missed five games earlier this season after suffering a pelvic injury. He played in every game for the Lakers the previous season.

Vincent replaced Reaves in the lineup to begin the second half.

The Clippers, who led by as many as 10, forced a pair of turnovers in the final minute to give them a chance, but Bogdan Bogdanovic’s open three-point attempt to cut the score to one rattled out, the Lakers grabbing the rebound and the win.

They’re now in a three-way tie with 21 losses for second in the West.

The Lakers and the Clippers meet again for the final time in regular season on Sunday at Crypto.com Arena.