For Austin Reaves, scoring the winning goal for the Lakers on Christmas has a special meaning

“Christmas in California” is not a Hallmark movie. The only magical snowfall in the Bay Area on Wednesday came when white confetti fluttered down at the end of a basketball game between the Lakers and Golden State Warriors while a Christmas carol played over the Chase Center speakers.

Fans were largely unimpressed as Austin Reaves had previously spurned the home team’s holiday moments.

As they walked out, Reaves walked to the middle of the field and put on a headset to analyze what had just happened in a postgame radio interview. As Reaves sat at the scorer’s table during the post-buzzer blizzard, he didn’t miss the moment. He likes to remind people that he shouldn’t be in these moments.

He wasn’t good enough to be drafted. His town was too small for him to be heavily recruited. And he certainly wasn’t the type of player you’d expect to leave the NBA’s main game with the ball after scoring the game-winning goal.

That’s what “they” believed. Reaves? Less surprised.

Still, Reaves’ Christmas performance surprised even him. He had completed his third career triple-double, slipping past the Warriors’ defense for a late layup to beat Golden State 115-113.

“I’m really not an emotional person,” Reaves said of the moment at the scorer’s table. “…There was a brief moment when I thought I was going to burst into tears. And that doesn’t happen often. But it’s Christmas.”

For a moment he thought about Arkansas and his friends and family. He thought of Germany, where his older brother Spencer is one of the best shooters in the country. He thought for a moment about the high chances of getting on the scoresheet.

“I know all my guys are locked up at home sitting around with family watching the game, and that means a lot to me,” Reaves said. “I say it all the time, I shouldn’t necessarily be in this position. I was lucky, got my foot in the door and took advantage of an opportunity. And now I’m sitting here… on Christmas with a game-winner and a triple-double and the win that really matters most to me.”

After a six-turnover night in the Lakers’ loss to Detroit on Monday, Reaves bounced back with a strong game against the Warriors before the final 6.6 seconds. He survived a difficult start and scored 16 of his 26 points in the second half. Without D’Angelo Russell, who didn’t play because of a sprained thumb, and Anthony Davis, who barely played because of a sprained ankle, Reaves had to take on more responsibility on both ends of the court. Like his team, he was perfect at the free throw line and also in control.

But it almost wasn’t enough because of Stephen Curry’s 17 points in the fourth quarter.

The Lakers saw their 10-point lead evaporate with 3:27 left thanks to a flurry of three-pointers from Curry, including two in the final 12 seconds, the second of which tied the score at 113. They needed Reaves’ final basket to leave San Francisco with a win.

“First of all,” Reaves said, “the play wasn’t for me.”

The Lakers tried to get the inbound pass to LeBron James, but Draymond Green and Curry followed.

“I think the patience with 6.6 seconds to just get the ball, let the play develop and get us to our spot was the biggest thing,” Lakers coach JJ Redick said. “We don’t go too fast and give him space to work.”

Max Christie cleared the ball to the top of the key after hitting the ball. Gabe Vincent pulled Golden State’s Dennis Schroder to the opposite corner. And Rui Hachimura somehow got the Warriors’ Jonathan Kuminga to turn his back to the ground while he was out of bounds on the baseline.

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Reaves caught the pass, placed it right at the rim, made a dash to the right and flew past the Warriors’ Andrew Wiggins. He fired the layup off the glass before a defender nearly challenged his first game-winning goal of the season.

“It’s always great to have great options on the field at the same time,” James said. “And AR has been in this position before.”

Reaves won a game in Dallas as a rookie and has gone on to great success ever since. But something about Christmas, something about the moment…

“Five seconds is a long time when it comes to basketball,” he said.

On Christmas against the Warriors, five seconds was enough time to create a moment he will never forget.

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This story originally appeared in the Los Angeles Times.