While the Los Angeles Lakers continue to work their way through player availability issues, the Milwaukee Bucks will be on the hunt for sustained success when the teams meet in Los Angeles on Friday.
On Wednesday, the Bucks fell 120-113 at Golden State, while the Lakers dropped a 107-91 decision at San Antonio in their second-lowest scoring game of the season.
The only game where the Lakers scored less was an in a 103-88 loss to the Los Angeles Clippers last month when Luka Doncic departed at halftime with an injury. Doncic recorded a 38-point triple-double Wednesday but fellow star LeBron James was out on the second night of a back-to-back.
Fellow starters Austin Reaves and Rui Hachimura have both been out for more than a week with calf injuries. Los Angeles did see Gabe Vincent score six points in 18 minutes on his return from a nine-game absence because of a back injury.
“Obviously we were down LeBron and it’s hard to compete with that,” Doncic said. “But I think everybody that left the court today should be feeling proud.”
Jake LaRavia added 16 points for the Lakers, but nobody else delivered more than 10. The team shot 39.5% from the floor, 23.1% (9 of 39) from 3-point range and recorded 17 turnovers, with guards Doncic and Marcus Smart committing 11 of them.
“I still should have done way better than this,” Doncic said. “I missed free throws and turnovers man. I think we had some great looks too. We could have knocked them down, but we didn’t.”
While the Lakers still have a top-four spot in the Western Conference with their 23-12 record, they have lost five times over their last nine games.
The Bucks have been better after a rough start but fell to 5-3 since Dec. 23 with their loss in the Bay Area that dropped them to 1-1 on a four-game road trip that ends Sunday at Denver.
“I thought we really wanted to win the game and I think sometimes, as crazy as this is going to sound, that gets in your way sometimes,” Bucks head coach Doc Rivers said. “Early on, every time the ball swings, that guy was trying to make the play instead of getting to the next action. That’s all we have been working on so that was a little disappointing.”
Milwaukee’s Giannis Antetokounmpo scored 34 points with 10 rebounds and five assists in the loss and has averaged 31.2 points in six games since returning from a right calf strain.
Kevin Porter Jr. had 15 points and nine assists against the Warriors as the Bucks lost despite shooting 54.1% from the floor. They went to the free-throw line only 12 times and made a season-low seven of those.
“We just have to continue to weather the storm,” Porter said about Milwaukee’s inability to put together a three-game win streak this season. “There are a lot of games to be played still.”
The Lakers earned a 119-95 victory over the host Bucks on Nov. 15 when Doncic scored 41 points and Reaves had 25, while James and Hachimura both were out. Antetokounmpo scored 32 points with 10 rebounds in the loss.
