Lakers pull out a win vs Bucks
The Lakers appeared to be cooked heading into their set-to against the Bucks the other day. It wasn’t simply that they had just come off their second setback in three outings. It was that they had to take the measure of the surging Bucks sans leading scorer and playmaker LeBron James, sidelined due to a recurring left ankle injury. Prior to a stumble at Chase Center, the visitors had reeled off six straight victories that featured a renewed commitment to defense care of new head coach Doc Rivers.
As things turned out, the Lakers were, at the very least, prepared to keep pace. If nothing else, the closeness of the match from start to finish was a testament to their intrinsic competitiveness. Displaying the same tenacity that enabled them to defeat the rival Celtics on the road without James (and, it must be said, Anthony Davis) last month, they traded shots and stops until the final moments. And, under the circumstances, it’s no coincidence that D’Angelo Russell picked up the slack.
For a while there, it looked as if the Lakers’ efforts would still not be enough to put them over the top. Davis suffered a strain on his left shoulder after he tried to take a charge against the barreling Giannis Antetokounmpo near the end of the third quarter, rendering him all but immobile the rest of the way. After his normal rest to start the final canto, he managed to post a mere two points (off charity shots to boot) and two boards. That said, he did succeed in playing decoy and wound up with three crucial dimes to help their cause.
Needless to say, the Lakers would not have been able to eke out the triumph on the slimmest of margins without Russell’s heroics. While Austin Reaves did well to finish with 18, five, and seven, he was, without doubt, the difference maker; when the final buzzer sounded, he had to his name a career-high 44 (on 17-of-25 shooting from the field, including nine of 12 from three), six, and nine. He proved to be nothing short of otherworldly in the last minute and change of the contest, when the Bucks were already casting moist eyes on a favorable outcome. And it was, perhaps, only fitting that new acquisition Spencer Dinwiddie would preserve his heroics with an outstanding block against Damian Lillard to foil what could have otherwise been the game winner.
To be sure, a single win, no matter how inspiring, does not solve the Lakers’ problems. For all their exertions, they’re a measly half game out of the last play-in slot in West standings. And with James and Davis questionable from day to day, they will need to continue being greater than the sum of their individual parts. How well they do that, with or without their All-Stars, will determine their fate.