Milwaukee Bucks Game Preview: Feb. 10 vs Los Angeles Lakers
By Ti Windisch
Major Key For Los Angeles: Score Some Points
The Lakers are bad again this season. After a hot start leading some to jump the gun and anoint the Luke Walton Lakers a playoff team, L.A. quickly cratered back into the lottery abyss. The good news: at least they’ll have a good shot at keeping that mythical Lakers pick!
The bad news is that the team stinks. The Lakers have a minuscule chance of winning unless they either play great defense or great offense–anything less typically results in a loss.
When Los Angeles allows the opposition to score 100 or less points, the Lakers are 9-2. If the other teams scores more than 100 points, Los Angeles is 9-35. Asking a group of young players (plus Timofey Mozgov, Luol Deng and Nick Young) to hold teams to 100 points or less is asking a lot.
Conversely, when the Lakers score a ton they have a good shot at winning too. Los Angeles is 10-1 when the team manages to score 116 or more points, compared to just 8-36 when the team falls short of that mark. Los Angeles has just two wins all season (in 36 chances) when the team scores less than 116 and allows more than 100 points in the same game.
There are their guidelines. The Lakers need to either score a ton, or play great defense to win. Conversely that means Milwaukee should be able to get a win by winning one side of the game, even if they’re only average on the other end.