After a solid win over the LA Clippers on Sunday, the Milwaukee Bucks stayed in town to take on the Los Angeles Lakers last night.
Although the Lakers have struggled to look like themselves this season, particularly lately, this felt like a game where the Bucks could send a message. Not only was the contest nationally televised, but both teams would have their star-studded trios out on the floor. It was certainly not a make or break type of game for Milwaukee, but this battle between the last two NBA Champions would be an interesting test.
Thankfully, the Bucks came out and immediately handled their business. Following an early back and forth battle within the first few minutes, the Bucks completely took this one over and built up a massive lead that grew to as large as 30 points midway through the third quarter. While LA did make a valiant comeback attempt late, even cutting it to single digits, Milwaukee held them off and secured the 131-116 win to improve to 3-0 on this West Coast road trip. With that said, let us take a closer look at three takeaways from last night’s game.
Bobby Portis, who was snubbed from the 3-point contest hours earlier, propelled a big shooting night for the Milwaukee Bucks
The Bucks have certainly caught the hot hand during their road trip over these first three games, knocking down 46 percent of their 3-pointers. Last night’s performance was yet another quality shooting night for the champs as they shot a red-hot 15-of-36 (41.7 percent) from the outside.
While others chipped in, it was Bobby Portis that did most of the damage for Milwaukee, having knocked down five 3-pointers in nine attempts en route to a 23 point performance. While he has never been known to lack energy on any given night, it seemed like Portis was particularly juiced for this matchup, and it was likely due to his 3-point Contest snub earlier in the day.
In the midst of another fantastic shooting season, Portis had been campaigning to be in the NBA’s 3-point Contest at the upcoming All-Star Weekend. Yet, when the participants were named a mere hours before this game, Portis was not among them. He seemingly took that personally, as he was hitting his triples all night and even broke out a few dance moves to celebrate. Portis was certainly snubbed from the 3-point shootout, and he made sure to prove it last night.
Portis got help from his fellow Bucks, as Khris Middleton hit three triples, Pat Connaughton added two on five attempts, and Giannis Antetokounmpo chipped in two of his own. There will be more on Antetokounmpo’s outstanding performance in a moment. For now, Portis deserves his props for propelling another stellar shooting night from the defending champions.