Seventh

MILWAUKEE — The Lakers won their seventh straight game. They could lose something bigger.

Star guard Austin Reaves left Wednesday’s 123-112 win over the Milwaukee Bucks with a left heel injury and did not return.

Reaves, who scored 18 points with five assists and three steals, landed awkwardly on a blocked dunk attempt during the third quarter but stayed in the game despite appearing to be in discomfort on the bench during an ensuing timeout. He remained in the game for three minutes before appearing to aggravate the injury on a drive toward the basket. He asked to be substituted on the next possession.

Reaves’ initial X-rays were negative, Lakers coach JJ Redick said, and the guard, averaging a career-best 23.5 points on 50.8% shooting, will undergo further imaging. Initial tests have ruled out any potential Achilles injury, Redick said.

The Lakers finished their first extended trip of the season unscathed in the standings, improving to 11-2 and still holding the best record in the league, but had to limp across the finish line Wednesday after injuries struck.

Guard Collin Sexton received an eyebrow’s worth of stitches over his right eye after knocking heads with Milwaukee Bucks guard Ryan Rollins with 6:51 remaining in the fourth quarter. Sexton’s sudden departure forced Luka Doncic to re-enter a the game, which the Lakers led by 20 points.

Two-and-a-half minutes later, Doncic turned his ankle while getting fouled by Kyle Kuzma on a long two-point jumper.

Doncic, who led the Lakers with 32 points, five assists, five rebounds and three steals, grabbed at his right ankle immediately. Lakers staff members tended to him while Kuzma’s foul was reviewed for a potential flagrant, but Doncic stayed in the game to shoot the free throw. He got subbed out right after that.

Doncic said after the game he felt fine. Now he just has to wait for news on his backcourt running mate.

“We just gotta have next-man-up mentality,” Doncic said of the potential of playing without Reaves. “Obviously we lose a very, very good player. Hopefully … it’s nothing. We gotta have next-man-up mentality.”

Reaves signed a maximum contract extension this summer and was off to a career year. He is the 15th-leading scorer in the NBA, and he and Doncic (38.6 points per game) form the highest-scoring pair of teammates in the league. Reaves is also averaging 3.4 rebounds and 4.6 assists while shooting a career-best 41.3% from three-point range.

Reaves, who played almost an entire game on what turned into a Grade 2 oblique strain suffered last April against Oklahoma City, had missed the Lakers’ previous game against the Atlanta Hawks because of illness.

Guard Quentin Grimes missed his second consecutive game Wednesday because of a sprained finger on his right hand. Grimes was questionable for Wednesday’s game, but still had swelling, Redick said, which could have affected the right-handed guard’s shooting.

Forward Sandro Mamukelashvili delivered for the shorthanded Lakers both times, scoring 23 points of the bench for the second consecutive game Wednesday. The Georgian forward shot 11 for 35 from three-point range during the first 11 games of the season and suddenly found his shooting stroke with consecutive games shooting five for eight from deep against the Hawks and Bucks.

Mamukelashvili helped lift the Lakers through a five-day stretch that Redick said felt more like three weeks. Last Friday, the Lakers played the Portland Trail Blazers at home in an NBA Cup group game and have since climbed to the top of the NBA standings, won two games against teams in the top half of the Eastern Conference and watched both of their star guards leave a game injured.

“We’re all ready to go home,” said center Walker Kessler, who had 10 points and 11 rebounds for his seventh double-double in eight games. “I’ll just say that.”

Battered and bruised from a tiring trip, the Lakers return home for a brief respite. The Lakers will have multiple days of rest before their next game Sunday at Phoenix. They don’t face a team with a winning record until Nov. 27. That road game in San Antonio figures to be a marquee showdown between Western Conference title contenders.

Klay Thompson made the winning three-pointer with a second left in overtime and the Miami Heat rallied past the reeling Clippers 117-116 on Wednesday night.

Bam Adebayo set season highs with 35 points and 10 rebounds for the Heat, who have won three of four after losing their first four games. Thompson scored 30, going eight of 17 from three-point range, and Giannis Antetokounmpo had 27 points, 14 boards and six assists.

Miami trailed by 20 in the second quarter and was still down 10 with 4 1/2 minutes left in the fourth before a 9-0 spurt set up the tight finish.

Darius Garland had 26 points and seven assists to pace the Clippers, who have lost seven games in a row since winning their season opener Oct. 21 against Sacramento.

Tage Thompson had three goals and two assists, Zach Benson added a goal and two assists, and the Buffalo Sabres scored six consecutive goals during a 7-6 victory over the struggling Ducks on Thursday night.

Thompson’s 10th career hat trick tied him with Alexander Mogilny and Danny Gare for the third-most in Sabres history. One night before his 29th birthday, Thompson scored twice in 15 seconds in the second period, skating around the Ducks’ inert defense for a breakaway third goal that sent a dozen hats flying onto the Honda Center ice.

Tyson Kozak, Noah Ostlund and Jack Quinn also scored and Colten Ellis made 28 saves for the Sabres, who roared back from an early two-goal deficit and then hung on to improve to 2-0-1 on their four-game trip.

Roger McQueen scored his first NHL goal and Cutter Gauthier ended his nine-game drought with two goals for the Ducks, who led 3-1 in the first period before getting blitzed 6-0 by Buffalo over the next 35 minutes.

Tristan Luneau and Beckett Sennecke scored for the Ducks (5-7-1) in the final 1:08 with Ville Husso pulled for an extra attacker, but the Sabres survived.

Captain Mikael Granlund scored and Leo Carlsson had three assists in the Ducks’ seventh loss in eight games. Husso stopped 23 shots for Anaheim, which is without injured defensemen Pavel Mintyukov and Ian Moore on its already shallow blue line.

After Granlund and Gauthier got power-play goals 57 seconds apart, McQueen put the Ducks up 3-1 with a rebound goal from the slot. The 6-foot-5 center made the Ducks’ roster out of training camp at 20 years old, but hadn’t yet scored an NHL point.

But Ostlund scored only Buffalo’s fifth power-play goal of the season midway through the first before Thompson tied it with his sixth goal. The Sabres (6-4-3) dominated the second period, and Thompson finally put them ahead with a one-timer off a faceoff win by Peyton Krebs, who had three assists.

Up next for the Ducks: vs. Ottawa at Honda Center on Sunday.