Without their entire starting frontcourt, the Los Angeles Lakers were simply outmatched against a very big Milwaukee Bucks team. JJ Redick’s squad kept in striking distance in the first half thanks mainly to Luka Doncic’s outstanding effort, but were ultimately overwhelmed in a 20-point loss.
In terms of what went wrong for his team, Redick admitted that the matchup was a tough one for the shorthanded Lakers and while he felt the competitive spirit was there, they simply failed to execute defensively, via Spectrum SportsNet:
“It was a different loss than the other night in Brooklyn. I thought our competitive level was really high. I think overall, it’s a tough matchup if we’re not at full strength. That’s just reality. And I think particularly on the defensive end, our execution of the details was [not good]. Our strongs versus Lillard and not stronging him, allowing him to get to his left hand. I thought our greens were really bad in the post with Giannis and our rotations out of that were really bad. But in terms of the connectedness, the spirit, the competitiveness, it was there tonight.”
The Bucks are big up front with Brook Lopez and Giannis Antetokounmpo anchoring the paint and Kyle Kuzma also bringing size at the forward spot. The Lakers had very little room for error being at that type of disadvantage and while Redick believes his team played hard and never gave up hope, they didn’t play smart:
“I believe AR, in the fourth quarter, it was like a 20-point game and Luka was at the line. He’s like ‘We’ve been here before, we were in the same situation last year and we won.’ I think the guys were good with that. Again, Dame wants to go left and we left him get left a lot. We didn’t execute at a high level and frankly, when you’re missing guys, you have to play hard but you also have to execute. Play hard, play smart… You gotta do both. And we played hard. I don’t think we played smart defensively and again, playing a lot of lineups we haven’t played all year without practicing together, it’s gonna happen. Your hope is that with the schedule coming up, you get guys back obviously. But you hope you can correct some of that in film.”
The Lakers have one more game left on this road trip in Denver against the Nuggets before returning home for a five-game homestand. As Redick said, hopefully some players can get healthy as the schedule isn’t letting up, and the Lakers can begin turning things around.
Austin Reaves: Lakers must ‘weather the storm’ through injuries
After an impressive eight-game win streak, the Lakers have now lost three straight games with injuries to LeBron James, Rui Hachimura and Jaxson Hayes playing a big part in their struggles. But Austin Reaves knows the Lakers can’t make any excuses and have to figure out a way to get through this stretch.
Reaves spoke after the loss to the Bucks saying the Lakers must ‘weather the storm’ and figure out a way to turn this around. The guard noted that players have been stepping up in increased roles and he believes they will be able to turn this around ultimately.
Have you subscribed to our YouTube channel? It’s the best way to watch player interviews, exclusive coverage from events, participate in live shows, and more!
