The Los Angeles Lakers dropped their first clutch game of the season on Friday night, losing in the final seconds to Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Milwaukee Bucks at home. The Lakers had the ball down two with 16.2 seconds to go, and opted not to call one of their two remaining timeouts.
LeBron James had the ball on the perimeter and drove to the basket. On his way, Antetokounmpo reached around his back and poked the ball away from him, with Kevin Porter Jr. securing possession and giving the game to the Bucks. It was one of a few mistakes by the Lakers in the final minute, including Luka Doncic fouling out on a Porter 3-point attempt to give Milwaukee the lead in the first place.
The Lakers’ 41-year-old star discussed the final play and was critical in his assessment of what took place.
“I turned the ball over. Definitely not that point in time. Giannis did a great job. He made a great play by getting his arms, tipping it from behind, but can’t turn the ball over, obviously,” James said.
LeBron then admitted that the Lakers did not play the way they wanted to in the first half, and knew that — eventually — their run of success in clutch games would come to an end.
“We played good ball in the second half,” James said. “I thought the first half we kind of got out of the road trip out of us. The second half we played more Laker basketball. Listen, you would love to go undefeated in clutch games for a season, but you’re not.
“You don’t get too high, get too low on stats like that. You just play the game. They made some plays. Big three by [Myles] Turner by our bench. Obviously, the free throw was down the stretch from KP. So we had our chances.”
Despite the final mistake, LeBron was complimentary of the way he prepared and played in this game. He finished with 26 points, nine rebounds and 10 assists, all team-highs, and helped bring the team back with 13 points in the fourth quarter alone.
“Every day is its own challenge. I just try to put the work in and try to prepare myself for whatever that day calls for. I mean, I’ve gotten a lot of rest. Obviously sleep. I was able to sleep a lot last night and then get up and get a good workout in before I came here for our shootaround. I mean, to prepare myself to go out and play. Like I say, every day will have its own challenges and I just got to go at them however I see fit.”
At age 41, James cannot still be expected to save the Lakers every single night. And yet, he has done so a couple times this season already and was one mistake away from doing so again on Friday. Of course, he’ll focus on the slip-up that ultimately led to the loss, but recognized that his overall work in the game was strong.
Luka Doncic laments poor play in Lakers loss
On the other side of the Lakers’ two-star coin, Doncic had among his worst games of the season on Friday night. He scored 24 points to go along with nine rebounds and nine assists, but went 8-for-25 from the field and 4-of-8 from the free throw line. He had no interest in blaming officiating for his play.
“No, it didn’t affect me. I think I missed the shots I usually make,” Doncic said. “Those little floaters in the paint, I work on that a lot. Just today, it was a terrible day for me.”
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