The Los Angeles Lakers went into Thursday night’s game winners of three straight games, although they faced a tough test in the Milwaukee Bucks at Crypto.com Arena.
Not only did the Lakers lose to the Bucks in convincing fashion last week, but they were also wrapping up a tough six-game in eight-day stretch and were missing key players like Luka Doncic, Austin Reaves, Dorian Finney-Smith, Jarred Vanderbilt, LeBron James and Rui Hachimura. As a result, the Bucks easily beat the shorthanded Lakers, 118-89, to snap their winning streak.
With the Lakers missing so many key guys, the Bucks were in attack mode early with Giannis Antetokounmpo, Kyle Kuzma and Taurean Prince scoring four points each to jump out to an 12-3 lead.
The Lakers responded with a 9-0 run though, showing some fight early. That was met by a 9-0 run by the Bucks though as they made three triples in a row.
A timeout by JJ Redick didn’t stop the run as the Bucks continued to pour it on an eventually it became a 16-0 run before Cam Reddish scored to end it. Ultimately, the Lakers faced a 34-19 deficit at the end of the first quarter.
The Bucks continued pouring it on to begin the second as their lead quickly grew to 23. The Lakers have another run in them though as an Alex Len 3-pointer got the deficit down to 11 after a 16-4 spurt.
Bronny James, who was getting some rare rotation minutes, made the most of it with eight first half points to lead the team and the Lakers went into the locker room trailing 57-46.
The Bucks began to take control in the third quarter as Gary Trent Jr. stayed hot from deep while Antetokounmpo bullied his way into the paint for some easy buckets and free throws. The Lakers weren’t able to do much offensively as James continued to lead the way with a career-high 12 points, although the deficit ballooned to 91-69 going into the fourth quarter.
It was nice to see some Lakers players who usually don’t get a chance to play get some run, but they were clearly outmanned against Antetokounmpo and the Bucks. With the deficit getting to 30 early in the fourth, Milwaukee had no issues closing out the easy win.
In what was a career night for Bronny, he finished with 17 points, three rebounds, five assists and one block on 7-of-10 shooting.
What’s next for the Lakers
The Lakers will wrap up their homestand on Saturday night against the Chicago Bulls at 7:30 p.m. PT before heading out on the road for four games.
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