Milwaukee Bucks: Player grades from 113-103 loss to Los Angeles Lakers
By Adam McGee
The Milwaukee Bucks came off second best in a battle of the NBA’s two best teams, as they lost to the Los Angeles Lakers at Staples Center.
It was far from pretty as two of the NBA’s best offenses matched up on Friday, but that was also largely attributable to the fact that the two teams were arguably even better defensively.
The Milwaukee Bucks and Los Angeles Lakers certainly took the idea of a heavyweight clash literally, as they battled it out in a bruising encounter that resulted in an impressive win for the home team at Staples Center.
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The battle between the NBA’s two best players certainly lived up to billing, and the MVP buzz that had been artificially generated in discussions about Giannis Antetokounmpo and LeBron James in recent days was also paid off.
On this occasion, for as good as Antetokounmpo was in driving the Bucks forward, James was generally up to task of matching or bettering him.
Undoubtedly helping LeBron in that regard is the support he received from Anthony Davis, something which Giannis didn’t have the luxury of on a night when Khris Middleton and Eric Bledsoe were such a long way off their best form.
Ultimately, that meant a strong Bucks start petered out and eventually fell away completely in the third quarter, although Donte DiVincenzo offered noble resistance to keep the Bucks alive.
Still, no comeback materialized, and with the regular season series wrapping up between the Bucks and Lakers, the situation between the two is finely poised at 1-1.
With that in mind, let’s take a deeper dive into Milwaukee’s individual efforts from Friday night’s loss in L.A.