Luka Doncic, who had an off shooting night by making only eight of 25 from the field, fouls out and LeBron James, who had 26 points, has a late turnover.
The Lakers’ two stars, LeBron James and Luka Doncic, have carried the Lakers all season, being the leaders.
But on this Friday night, James and Doncic couldn’t hold it down for the Lakers, the two of them having late-game miscues that eventually led to a 105-101 lossto the Milwaukee Bucks on Friday night at Crypto.com Arena.
Doncic fouled Kevin Porter Jr. shooting a three-pointer with 16.2 seconds left and the score tied. Worse, it was Doncic’s sixth foul of the game.
Porter made two of three free throws to give the Bucks a 103-101 lead.
The Lakers put the ball in James’ hands for the final shot, but he turned the ball over, throwing away a pass with 0.6 seconds left.
He had scored 11 of his 26 points in the fourth quarter, pulling the Lakers along with him.
But that final turnover hurt the Lakers and James, who also had 10 assists and nine rebounds.
Doncic finished with 24 points, nine rebounds and nine assists. But he was just eight-for-25 from the field.
The Lakers played their fourth game this week, at times looking sluggish because of the workload.
It was the kind of night that saw Doncic pick up his fifth foul with 2.1 seconds left in the third quarter.
He had scored 12 points in the third, doing all he could to keep the Lakers to within 86-77 of the Bucks entering the fourth.
He was four-for-nine shooting from the field in the third quarter after shooting three for 12 in the first half.
The Lakers trailed by as much as 12 in the second quarter, while looking a bit slow.
Read more:Luka Doncic has a triple-double, but LeBron-less Lakers lose to Spurs
But James scored the final five points, on a three-pointer and a basket, to pull the Lakers to within nine at the half.
So much — if not all — of the Lakers’ game plan was on trying to deal with the nearly unstoppable force that is Giannis Antetokounmpo.
And much of that job went to Lakers center Deandre Ayton, whom the Lakers felt was best equipped to handle the assignment because of his size (7-foot), length and strength.
But it also was going to take the Lakers as a group to slow down Antetokounmpo, who finished with 21 points, six rebounds and five assists.
Jarred Vanderbilt gave the Lakers a big effort with nine points and nine rebounds off the bench, and his usual tough defense.
By halftime, the Lakers had done a good job of slowing down Antetokounmpo, limiting him to 12 points. But he was six-for-six shooting from the field in 13 first-half minutes. He also had three rebounds and three assists.
Etc.
Lakers forward Rui Hachimura missed his sixth consecutive game because of right calf soreness. But Hachimura has been working out and there is some hope that he can play Monday night in Sacramento.
“He's made a lot of progress just in terms of regaining strength and mobility in his calf and had a good workout today,” Redick said. “There's a lot of optimism that he'll be available Monday, but we'll see how the next few days go.”
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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Category: General Sports
