After two tough losses to start their road trip, the Los Angeles Lakers looked to get back on track on Thursday night against the Milwaukee Bucks.
The Lakers were still missing some key pieces in this one, and that proved costly as the Bucks used their size advantage to cruise to a 126-106 victory.
The game had a nice pace to start as both teams made three of their first four shots. The Bucks took an early lead though as Damian Lillard made his first triple to put them up 14-8.
While the Lakers’ shooting slowed down considerably, Luka Doncic kept them in it with his two-way play. The Lakers’ lack of size was an issue though as Brook Lopez and Giannis Antetokounmpo were doing whatever he wanted.
Doncic led the way with 16 points in the first quarter and Dalton Knecht finally gave him some help with five straight points to end it, cutting the Lakers’ deficit to 33-29.
Damian Lillard got going at the free throw line to start the second quarter, starting a 9-0 run for the Bucks to extend the lead to double digits.
Doncic ended the Lakers’ drought with a nice pass to Dorian Finney-Smith and then he scored 10 straight points of his own to quickly shrink the deficit. The Bucks did a nice job of answering that run with one of their own though, knocking down almost all of their open 3s.
Austin Reaves finally gave Doncic some help offensively to end the half, but the Lakers still went into the locker room trailing 71-63.
The Lakers’ lack of size continued to hurt them to start the third as Antetokounmpo continued to bully his way into the paint. Brook Lopez then made a pair of 3s as Milwaukee continued to grow its lead.
Doncic was the Lakers’ only real source of offense, which made for things starting to get ugly as the third quarter went on. By the time the fourth quarter rolled around, L.A.’s deficit ballooned to 20 at 102-82.
The Lakers kept fighting trying to get back in it, and quickly cut their deficit to 16, forcing a Bucks timeout. L.A. was never able to make a real push though as Milwaukee cruised to the easy win.
Despite the loss, it was Doncic’s best game as a Laker. He finished with 45 points, 11 rebounds, three assists, two steals and a block on 14-of-27 shooting with basically all of that coming in the first three quarters.
What’s next for the Lakers
Things don’t get any easier for the Lakers moving forward as they finish up their road trip against the Denver Nuggets on the second night of a back-to-back on Friday.
