LOS ANGELES – The Milwaukee Bucks suffered a heart-breaking final second loss to the Los Angeles Lakers on Friday evening at Crypto.com Enviornment, falling 123-122 within the closing moments.
A D’Angelo Russell floater gave his crew the lead with 5.9 seconds remaining, and Damian Lillard’s step-back, go-ahead try was blocked by Spencer Dinwiddie.
“There was solely 4 seconds left, so Doc (Rivers) drew the play up for me to get a catch and just about get downhill and assault,” Lillard stated of the ultimate play. “Bought the catch, I lined him up, crossed him up, bought to my proper hand and he was on the facet of me and he was coming downhill like he was making an attempt to recuperate and I went right into a step-back. He simply made a very good play on the ball.
“Often guys, , they’ll sort of plant once they goin’ one course and attempt to recuperate however his ft by no means stopped shifting once I regarded on the replay. He was going this manner and his ft simply sort of saved crawling up beneath me. Often, I might shoot that shot a bit of bit faster however I felt like I had a bit of bit more room than I did and he simply made a very good play on it.”
An official overview of a Giannis Antetokounmpo shot simply after the buzzer confirmed Dinwiddie’s block certainly ended the sport.
“Oh, give the ball to one of the best nearer on this sport at present,” Antetokounmpo stated of the Bucks’ closing play with Lillard. “He’s going to make a play. Regardless of the consequence of that play is, you gotta reside with that.”
Russell’s 44 factors helped offset the absence of LeBron James for Los Angeles, who bought 22 factors from Anthony Davis and 18 from Austin Reaves. The Lakers improved to 34-30.
The Bucks (41-23) had been led by Antetokounmpo’s 34-point, 14-rebound, 12-assist triple-double. Lillard had his ninth double-double of the yr with 28 factors and 12 assists whereas Malik Beasley (14) and Brook Lopez (11) additionally reached double figures for the Bucks as starters. Pat Connaughton had 17 and Bobby Portis 14 off the bench.
D’Angelo Russell’s greatest sport of season leads Lakers
After a comparatively quiet begin to the sport with 5 factors within the first quarter, Russell scored 11 of his crew’s 40 factors within the second quarter to assist Los Angeles take management of the sport. Russell and Austin Reaves mixed to go 5 for six from behind the three-point line whereas Jaxson Hayes and Cam Reddish bought behind the protection for assaults on the rim. Reddish made a layup whereas Hayes had a dunk and made 4 of 6 free throws.
“Gotta go watch movie and see what errors we made,” Antetokounmpo stated of the second quarter. “I really feel like there was a pair occasions that our low man wasn’t early within the paint, was in a position to get into the paint, get to the free throw line, get some dunks after which once we had been early they kicked it out. We had been taking part in a lot within the gray space that value us, possibly like 10, 15 factors. That’s from the highest of my head.”
Within the third quarter Taurean Prince was the Los Angeles function participant took benefit of the Bucks as he scored eight factors within the third quarter, together with 2 three-pointers.
However Russell continued his sizzling capturing into the fourth, flattening two early threes to enhance to 7 for 8 from behind the three-point line. He then scored his 30th and 31st factors of the evening on a troublesome floater over Brook Lopez, turning into the primary guard to attain 30 or extra on the Bucks since Devin Booker did it for Phoenix again on Feb. 6.
BOX SCORE:Lakers 123, Bucks 122
Russell then shook free to knock down his eighth three-pointer of the evening in entrance of the Bucks bench to provide the Lakers a 108-103 lead with 5:31 to go within the sport.
The guard then took his sport to the rim, drawing a blocking foul on Lillard for a three-point play that lower the Bucks result in 122-121.
“I assumed the most important play for them was the three-point play — that was a crusher,” Rivers stated.“
You reside with contested twos, ? He made ‘em. However you’ll reasonably have that than the opposite pictures. I’ll reside with that. I nonetheless need to watch it. I feel the primary half they had been capturing virtually 60% so I didn’t assume we had a terrific defensive evening tonight. I assumed within the first half they killed us on their rolls and that ought to’ve been coated. We often have a low man there, we didn’t tonight.”
After the Lakers pressured a cease, Lakers head coach Darvin Ham saved the ball within the sizzling participant’s fingers.
First, Russell labored on Beasley earlier than he pressured a swap to attract Lillard. Russell then labored the Bucks’ guard to 13 ft and knocked down one other one-handed shot to provide his crew a 123-122 lead with 5.9 seconds left.
It proved to be the sport winner.
“We had a whole lot of, simply miscommunications,” Lillard stated. “I used to be on the ball, they referred to as Brook as much as get a swap to place Brook on the ball, they bought the swap, Brook referred to as the swap, it’s considered one of our coverages – when Brook will get put in that kind of scenario on the perimeter we run anyone on the ball and we simply double the ball, make ‘em throw it out and we rotate. I knew the clock was winding down so as soon as I noticed Brook on the wing by himself I went to double and I used to be coming from the facet of him, so once I came to visit to double Brook backed out and he sort of began going downhill and he ended up capturing a floater. It was only a miscommunication on the mistaken time on the finish.”
Rivers acknowledged possibly he may’ve have Pat Beverley within the sport in that occasion, but when the Lakers shot missed Rivers needed Lillard on the courtroom for these closing offensive seconds.
“’D-Lo’ bought going downhill, we had them within the pick-and-roll, possibly I ought to’ve made extra a play on the ball, entice him a bit of bit,” Lopez stated. “I didn’t need to surrender a layup behind me ore one thing like that. However, a man’s having a sport like that you simply most likely ought to go up and take the ball out of his fingers.”
Russell scored 21 of his 44 within the fourth quarter. He additionally had 9 assists and 6 rebounds.
“I feel a participant such as you that you simply gotta get into him, be a bit of extra bodily,” Antetokounmpo stated. “I really feel like he was taking part in freely on the market, was in a position to get to his pots. He was capturing bounce pictures. Clearly he did have the nice sport, lead his crew all the best way to the tip, wo the sport for them, made nice passes, made nice pictures, nice choices. He was unimaginable for tonight. However for gamers like that they’re going to be extra aggressive than typical, you gotta be extra bodily. Generally there’s gonna be performs that you simply gotta possibly deny them, get into them, ship them to the paint, simply make it a bit of bit more durable, take them out of their consolation zone. At occasions we had been in a position to do it, however we didn’t do it sufficient.”
Anthony Davis had a usually sturdy all-around sport with 22 factors, 13 rebounds, 5 assists and three blocked pictures – however with out LeBron James different gamers needed to step up on the offensive finish. Russell was the one who ended up with the lion’s share, however Hayes, Reddish and Prince (24 factors on 7 of 13 capturing) made key buckets when wanted.
Giannis Antetokounmpo’s passing provides Bucks probability late
Antetokounmpo set a profession excessive along with his eighth triple-double of the season when he discovered Connaughton open within the nook for a three-pointer that put the Bucks up 114-112 with 2:25 to go within the sport.
Antetokounmpo continued distributing within the clutch after that, establishing a Lillard four-point play off after which discovering Connaughton reducing baseline for a lay-in that gave Milwaukee a 120-115 benefit.
The Bucks’ MVP candidate recorded his profession greatest triple-double in his 61st sport this season. He had seven triple-doubles in 61 video games in 2020-21.
He’s at present fourth within the league in triple-doubles this season behind Sacramento’s Domantas Sabonis (22), Denver’s Nikola Jokić (20) and Dallas’s Luka Dončić (15).
It’s the 43rd profession triple-double for Antetokounmpo, tying him with Fats Lever for No. 12 all-time. Antetokounmpo is seventh amongst energetic gamers.
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With 10 minutes, 23 seconds to go within the third quarter Lakers ahead Rui Hachimura determined to problem Lopez on the rim, and Lopez rejected the highly effective dunk try from the 6-foot, 8-inch, 230-pounder – resulting in a wide-eyed incredulous response from Hachimura and a easy shake of the pinnacle from Lopez.
Davis then stated what you are able to do, I can do higher as he first blocked a Lopez layup try after which rallied to dam a Antetokounmpo dunk try inside 5 seconds of each other a couple of minutes later to power a Bucks shot clock violation.
To not be disregarded, Antetokounmpo swallowed up one other Hachimura dunk try late within the fourth quarter on a powerful block that led to a Connaughton free throw.
5 numbers
5-4 The Lakers report with out LeBron James this season.
14:07 Consecutive minutes Antetokounmpo performed to start the second half. He was on the ground for the whole third quarter and the opening 2:07 of the fourth. Regardless of the lengthy stint, the Bucks couldn’t recover from the hump on the Lakers who led 97-94 when he exited within the early fourth.
25-4 Bucks report when Lillard scores not less than 25 factors. He had 28 on 10-of-23 capturing.
40 Factors scored by the Lakers within the second quarter, giving them a 67-63 halftime lead. That adopted a 40-point first quarter by Golden State on Wednesday. Earlier than these final two video games, Milwaukee had not allowed a 40-point quarter since Miami reached the quantity in a Feb. 13 victory over the Bucks at Fiserv Discussion board.
The one different groups apart from Miami to attain 40 factors in a single quarter had been Dallas (44, first quarter) and Utah (40, fourth quarter).
2,564 Profession made three-pointers for Lillard, fourth-most all-time in NBA historical past. His first three-pointer of the evening vs. the Lakers moved him out of a tie with Indiana’s Reggie Miller. Solely Stephen Curry (3,680), Ray Allen (2,973) and James Harden (2,910) rank forward of Lillard.
Extra:How Giannis Antetokounmpo discovered to recover from himself to play one of the best basketball of his profession
LeBron James dominated out vs. Bucks
The NBA’s all-time main scorer was downgraded to out for the Los Angeles Lakers with a left ankle sprain. James has been managing the ankle for the reason that all-star break and had performed the final seven video games.
When is Khris Middleton taking part in?
Khris Middleton was dominated out for the Lakers sport early, that means he’ll miss his thirteenth straight sport since severely spraining his left ankle towards Phoenix on Feb. 6.
He spoke for the primary time since that harm on Monday, and he stated they’re “simply making an attempt to get the swelling out.”
“Had a whole lot of swelling initially once I twisted, or rolled, the ankle,” Middleton stated. “A variety of it has gone out. Simply ready on this final little bit to go, so I can transfer freely with out ache or something like that.”
Extra:Milwaukee Bucks all-star Khris Middleton speaks on ankle harm: ‘I have to be taking part in’
Friday’s missed sport is of significance because it means Middleton won’t play in 62 video games and he’ll miss out on a $1.5 million bonus. Middleton was on his technique to assembly that threshold after taking part in in 43 of the Bucks’ first 51 video games.
The truth that Middleton won’t earn the bonus didn’t have an effect on whether or not the Bucks are over the second “tax apron,” as they had been over it anyway. It is going to solely have an effect on the Bucks’ 2023-24 luxurious tax cost and his cap hit for 2024-25.