Lakers, Bucks both in search of a big boost
Last January, a matchup with the Milwaukee Bucks at Fiserv Forum saw the Lakers at the top of their game.
LeBron James scored 34 points, highlighting a budding MVP candidacy. The Lakers knocked down 19 3-pointers amid a shooting hot streak. The Bucks lost in the fourth quarter, and twotime MVP winner Giannis Antetokounmpo was still looking uphill at the thendefending NBA champions.
A lot has changed in less than a year. The increasing distance from the Lakers’ 2019-20 championship can be felt in their uneven 8-7 start. When the Lakers face the Bucks tonight, the role of defending champs will belong to the hosts after Milwaukee hung its first banner since 1971, and the Lakers again will be without James as he misses his eighth consecutive game with an abdominal strain.
But the Bucks (6-8) are not in top form, either.
There’s often a hangover after winning a title. The Lakers went through it last season, and the Bucks’ start has been bumpy. Much of it has been played without Khris Middleton, who went into COVID-19 protocols earlier this season, and who is expected to play tonight. But the last six games — especially Sunday’s 20-point loss to Atlanta — might speak to what Antetokounmpo and his teammates are learning: Championships are difficult to defend.
“Obviously, we are (upset), but we gotta keep on moving forward,” Antetokounmpo told reporters after the letdown against the team they topped in the Eastern Conference finals in the summer. “You gotta try to get better, pick it up for the next one and try to get a win in the next one.”
That language is similar to the Lakers’ thoughts these days. The team has a winning record and has won several games without James, but it’s hard to say they’re making progress when their two most lopsided losses have come in their last three games.
Their win over San Antonio on Sunday afternoon and loss to Chicago on Monday night highlighted two very different
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sides of how the Lakers’ roster, made up mostly of new players, is getting used to operating alongside Anthony Davis. The AllStar big man was aggressive and attacked the rim against the Spurs, then was able to pass out of doubleteams when the defense began to swarm him. But when the Bulls fronted him in the post, then came with early double-teams, the Lakers struggled to find ways to create offense and stagnated.
Asked whether it was simply a matter of poor shooting (6 for 32 from 3-point range) or not moving enough off-ball around Davis, coach Frank Vogel was terse and to the point: “Both.” But he added that the slightly different scheme of Chicago’s defense was a puzzle that his team needs to better unlock.
“With a new group, we didn’t adjust to it very well, and when we did, we missed open 3s on the backside,” he said. “But we turned the ball over too much and had too many bad possessions early on trying to get A.D. involved. Part of an 82-game season with a new group is all these guys are new to playing with Anthony and trying to figure that out and understanding what we want to go to when we see defenses like that.”
Statistically, the early statistics for the Lakers and Bucks paint similar pictures of mediocrity: Milwaukee is slightly better on offense (107.2 points scored per 100 possessions, 18th) to the Lakers’ sluggish attack (104.8 oRtg, 23rd). The Lakers have been more solid on defense (107.4 dRtg, 15th) to the Bucks’ relatively porous defense (109.1 dRtg, 20th). In terms of net rating, they are neck-and-neck with Milwaukee at 22 (minus-1.8) and the Lakers at 23 (minus-2.6), though it could be argued that the Bucks have played a more robust schedule.
If you classify the Lakers’ sluggish start as growing pains with Russell Westbrook finding his fit and James largely unavailable, Milwaukee’s issues might simply be the malaise of winning it all, then trying to get through an 82-game schedule.