The Los Angeles Lakers sought to rebound on Friday night after suffering a difficult defeat to the Sacramento Kings; but, things didn’t get any simpler with Giannis Antetokounmpo, Damian Lillard, and the Milwaukee Bucks visiting the city.
Even worse, LeBron James’ ankle injury kept him out of the Lakers lineup. However, it made little difference as D’Angelo Russell scored 44 points to help the Lakers win 123–122.
With Antetokounmpo in attack mode and Malik Beasley and Brook Lopez both making deep shots, the Bucks jumped out to an early 14-8 lead.
With an open triple, Spencer Dinwiddie, who started in James’ place, assisted in bringing the Lakers closer. At the close of the first quarter, Anthony Davis also began to click offensively, scoring several impressive drives to trim the lead to 30-27.
The Lakers took the lead after Russell drilled a three-pointer to start the second after Rui Hachimura made a midrange jumper. After thereafter, Russell drained two more threes to help the Lakers maintain their lead despite Antetokounmpo’s numerous three-point attempts.
From then on, Davis and Austin Reaves led the Lakers in establishing a lead. Additionally, Cam Reddish scored five points in a row.
Despite a slow start, Lillard ultimately found his scoring groove and the Lakers took a 67-63 lead into the locker room at halftime.
Both Beasley and Lillard made deep shots to start the third quarter, maintaining their heat before halftime. However, the Lakers responded admirably, as Russell and Davis found one another for open looks that prompted a brief Bucks timeout.
From then on, the Lakers started to let Antetokounmpo go south, and the Bucks become a threat.
However, Taurean Prince scored a pair of clutch triples and a layup to keep his side ahead as Milwaukee began to eat into the Lakers’ lead. The Lakers then had a good finish to the quarter, leading 96-90 at the start of the fourth quarter as Russell struck from long range and Reaves made a steal and layup to beat the buzzer.
Russell continued to make clutch three-pointers to keep the Lakers ahead of Lillard and company in the opening minutes of the fourth quarter.
The Lakers were able to hold a slight advantage throughout the game, but with a few minutes remaining, the Bucks managed to take the lead. From then, they took charge as Lillard finished a four-point play to put them ahead 118–11.
In response, Rui Hachimura made a triple, and in the last minute, Russell added another to make the score two points. From then on, Antetokounmpo was a massive bucket.
Naturally, Russell answered with a three-point shot to tie the score at one. With twenty-three seconds remaining, the Lakers recovered the ball after Lillard missed a layup.
With 5.9 minutes remaining, Russell once more made a huge play to give his team a 123-122 lead. After that, Dinwiddie blocked Lillard for the game-winning block, securing a commanding victory.
