The Milwaukee Bucks fell in a high scoring battle with the Los Angeles Lakers Friday night in Milwaukee 133-129. The 129 points the Bucks scored in this game was their second highest point total of the season, second only to the 136 scored in a double overtime tilt with the Oklahoma City Thunder. The 133 points allowed is the highest total the Milwaukee Bucks have allowed this season.
The Bucks got solid production from all of their big three and overall the team scored the ball very well, just couldn’t get a last minute 3-point basket to fall to tie the game.
However, despite the end result not being ideal, there are still at least two positive takeaways from this game. Let’s look at the two positives and then the one area the Bucks can come away knowing they need to improve.
Takeaways from Milwaukee Bucks loss to Los Angeles Lakers: Khris Middleton is back
Definitely the happiest takeaway from this game, regardless of the outcome, was seeing Khris Middleton back in a Bucks uniform. His season debut went pretty well, 17 points on 6-of-11 shooting including 3-of-4 behind the 3-point line, Middleton also added two rebounds and seven assists without committing a single turnover. All in 26 minutes of play, a very, very solid season debut for Khris coming off wrist surgery.
I was watching for three things from Khris Middleton in his return, his minutes, whether he would start or not and his defense, he played 26 minutes, admittedly about six more than I would have guessed he’d play. Khris Middleton did slot into the starting rotation, moving Jevon Carter to the bench, Carter still played 20 minutes, resulting in just eight minutes for George Hill. Finally, Middleton guarded a slew of different Lakers and did okay in his first game back, in a game as high scoring as this there weren’t a lot of standouts in +/- but Khris did finish positive, a team high +3, thanks likely to his seven assists and no turnovers.
Aside from his solid performance, we are just happy to see Khris Middleton’s jumper, running the pick and roll and throwing alley-oop lobs to Giannis Antetokounmpo, who is our next takeaway.
Takeaways from Milwaukee Bucks loss to Los Angeles Lakers: Giannis Antetokounmpo continues his streak of dominance
We are really truly running out of ways to describe Giannis Antetokounmpo, dominant doesn’t even feel like a strong enough word to describe him anymore. Giannis put on another authoritative performance Friday night finishing with 40 points on 16-of-23 shooting, an impressive 69.9 percent from the field. Even more efficiently, when you factor in that Giannis was 0-of-3 behind the 3-point line, Giannis was 16-of-20 inside the arc, 80 percent! Giannis has worked hard on his mid-range and post fade game over the last few years, but the narrative that he needs a jump shot to be a great scorer is simply not true. Also, it’s not like Giannis scored a ton at the free throw line, although he was a respectable 8-of-11 from the charity stripe his free throws accounted for just 20 percent of his 40 points.
Say what you will about Anthony Davis and his impressive night, but there was not a single person on the Lakers that could stop Giannis either, not even multiple persons could stop Giannis on Friday night.
Giannis Antetokounmpo’s 40 point night also extended a streak that has now tied a personal high six consecutive games of scoring 30 points or more, dating back to the Bucks win over the Portland Trail Blazers two weeks before this matchup. How crazy does that sound? Giannis has gone two weeks straight without scoring under 30 points.
Takeaways from Milwaukee Bucks loss to Los Angeles Lakers: Defense needs to stay locked in
As mentioned in the beginning of this article, the 133 points the Lakers scored in this game was the highest point total the Milwaukee Bucks have allowed this season. The second highest total, 132, came from the Oklahoma City Thunder in a game that went to double overtime with none of the big three playing.
Anthony Davis’ 44 points are the most allowed to a single player this season by the Bucks, beating out the 42 by Trae Young and 39 by Shai Gilgeous Alexander, both in wins by the Bucks. Davis started out hot and never slowed down. While I am a proponent of good offense beating good defense every time, at some point when a guy is this hot you have to send more attention his way. I recognize with LeBron James on the same team it can be tough to direct a lot of defensive attention away but try something different to take away his rhythm.
The Lakers scored an astounding 70, yes 70, points in the paint. The Milwaukee Bucks have a pair of elite rim protectors and they both did their part, but 70 points in the paint just can’t happen. On the season the Bucks are fourth in the NBA allowing an average of 46.3 points in the paint per game.
The Lakers also turned 12 offensive rebounds into 14 second chance points and scored another 14 points off 11 Bucks turnovers. While the low turnover numbers are encouraging, getting back on defense to recover, like Giannis Antetokounmpo did to get a chase down block on LeBron James, the man who made the chase down block popular, was fun to see.
While it is possible this game was just one where the Bucks caught a team on their best night, there were some areas that could be cleaned up a bit moving forward. The Bucks will be just fine.
Stay tuned for more Milwaukee Bucks analysis.