LAKERS -at- BUCKS - 3-26-24 - Thoughts and :-)) Ratings

[DancingBarry]

Bucks Stop Here... This game had loss written all over it, but somehow the Lakers found a way.

There were times in regulation where the offense just stalled out for long stretches, including scoring just 2 points in the first 5 minutes and 1 point in the first 4 minutes of the fourth quarter. (In that last game, that might have been time enough for 35 points.)

They trailed by 19 in the first quarter, trimmed the lead to single digits at times over the next couple quarters only to see it get pushed back up.

The Lakers trailed by 19 points again a few minutes in that fourth quarter, but they found a way.

Austin Reaves was incredible on both ends in crunch time.

“You can fold and go to the next in Memphis tomorrow or you can man up and face the challenge head on,” Reaves said.

Reaves drew a charge on Giannis, challenged several shots under the rim to get stops and forced Dame into tough looks. Offensively, he split a double on a handoff and scored a layup, then hit a big three with 1:11 left to cut it to 2. Prince would tie in on the next possession on two freethrows. Reaves had a chance to win it at the buzzer on an inbounds with 0.8 left, but couldn’t get it to go.

In the first OT, AD came up with a huge block on Dame driving to his left with the Lakers down 2. They recovered and drew FTs on a Russell drive on the other end. He tied it up. On to the second OT.

Both teams struggled to score on dead legs. But, again, AD and Reaves made some excellent defensive plays under the hoop to help the cause. Finally, the Bucks scored on a steal for the first points after a few minutes of overtime, then Reaves countered with a layup himself. Next time down, he drained a huge three (triple-double for Reaves tonight with 29-14-10).

Up 3, the Lakers fouled Giannis under the hoop with 24 seconds left. He missed both and the Bucks were in trouble.

Clutch freethrows by Russell and AD (and the entire Laker team), and the Lakers secured the 128-124 comeback win. They’ll need to find their legs tomorrow in the back-to-back.


Davis -- -- A huge 52 minutes from AD tonight without Bron. He had 4 blocks tonight, none bigger than blocking Dame at the buzzer to force the double overtime. Spencer was on Dame’s hip and beat. AD stayed with his man under the hoop, then bounced out and swatted the drive. Huge. Dame’s gotta hate this team. In the double OT, he had a great recovery to Portis on a putback attempt to block that at the rim, as well. Offensively, AD started off super slow. Just 12 points on a poor 4-13 shooting in the first half. A lot of perimeter misses for AD. Off the mark from all around the court. But he dialed it in and knocked down three threes from the fourth quarter and through the OTs. “I just kept shooting,” he said. He said his teammates gave him confidence, especially Russell. AD was 3-8 from three, crazy numbers. The Stats: He scored 34 points on 12-31 shooting (3-8 from three, 7-7 from the line) to go with 23 boards (7 offensive), 2 assists, 2 steals, 4 blocks, 4 turnovers and 1 foul in 52 minutes. He was a +2.

Russell -- -- A lot of guys struggled early on. He was one of them, just unable to get on track with the shot to start. In the second half, he started to come alive. The Bucks were very aware of his ability to hit threes in a flurry and took a couple timeouts after a couple of his makes. Great job getting to the line and hitting everything from there (10-10). He should have had two more FTs. With 13 seconds in regulation, he had a drive that looked like a foul. There was no call, ball off Bucks. They reviewed, overturned the call and ball was off L.A. It looked like Beasley tried going vertical on D, but his arms came forward and hit Russell’s arms. That’s usually called a foul. That didn’t slow him down from trying to earn FTs later. We went to him in overtime for a final possession down 2. He got Crowder on a switch, attacked him and drew FTs with 3.1 seconds left. He made both to tie it. Big block from behind on a big in the double OT with a minute left to go. That saved a layup under the hoop. He’d make two more FTs with 14.7 seconds left in the game to help deal the deal. “I don’t know how I feel right now,” Russell said after the huge minutes. Got to bounce back tomorrow. The Stats: He scored 29 points on 7-22 shooting (5-12 from three, 10-10 from the line) to go with 7 boards, 12 assists, 2 steals, 1 block, 4 turnovers and no fouls in 50 minutes. He was a +10.

Reaves -- -- So many huge plays in this one. The biggest may have been the three in double overtime with 38 seconds left to go ahead. Or maybe the layup just prior to that to counter the Bucks first score. Or you could go with the big three with 1:11 to cut it to 2. Or that play where he split the double on a handoff and scored a layup to force a timeout with 4:34 left in regulation after cutting the lead to 5. Or maybe the charge he took on Giannis just prior to that. There was a series of plays in that first OT. He had a great challenge rotating over to Giannis to prevent a point blank score. After that, he scored a floater himself over Lopez on a stampede cut from the wing. He was whistled for a foul on a Dame three, brushing him, but he drew FTs on Dame on the other end on a similar play with 30 seconds left in that first OT. Double OT, he had the Lakers first score with a layup attacking the closeout for a layup with 1:41 left. That big three in double OT was off a double drag where he set the first screen and popped open. Huge play call and he delivered. At the beginning of this season, the one thing I really wanted to see from Reaves was to improve his stamina. He’ll be needed to play games like this in the playoffs where you have to give huge efforts on D, while still being a threat on the other end. He said he had dead legs early in this game, but felt better as the game went along. He sure looked it, giving the Lakers some huge minutes (again!) without LeBron in the mix. “He’s a warrior. He’s an ironman,” Russell said. The Stats: He scored 29 points on 10-20 shooting (4-11 from three, 5-6 from the line) to go with 14 boards (2 offensive), 10 assists, 2 blocks, 1 turnover and 3 fouls in 48 minutes. He was a -2.
Hachimura -- -- With Bron out, he said he needed to help AD on the glass. He pulled down a season high 14 boards, including 4 offensive. He helped carry the team early on when they were struggling scoring. Then, he was quiet for a while after scoring 12 points in the first half. In the first OT, a couple huge plays. He grabbed an offensive board around Giannis for a putback layup. Then he had a drive from the corner to Euro around the help D for another layup. In the second OT, he stole a lob while fronting Giannis for another big play. “We didn’t give up, we didn’t give up,” Rui said. The Stats: He scored 16 points on 7-14 shooting (0-2 from three, 2-2 from the line) to go with 14 boards (4 offensive), 1 assist, 1 turnover and 2 fouls in 39 minutes. He was a -6.

Dinwiddie -- -- He went 1-8 in this game with his one make being a huge three, pulling up from the line in transition in overtime with 2:17 left. We’ll take it. He also knocked down a couple clutch FTs on a transition attack with 1:17 left in double OT. Not as many transition opportunities with Bron out of this game, but good to see Spencer manufacture some points when he had the ball on a couple of those in OT. He missed some chippies early (along with a lot of Lakers). Some early foul trouble from Spencer as he got some cheap ones whistled on him and he had to sit with 5:24 left in the first quarter as a result. Despite the issues, he was one of the team leaders in that +/-. He started at the SF tonight, but at times switched to PG. That defensive flexibility and his guard skills give the team a lot of flexibility. The Stats: He scored 7 points on 1-8 shooting (1-5 from three, 4-4 from the line) to go with 2 boards, 4 assists, 1 block, 1 turnover and 4 fouls in 42 minutes. He was a +8.

Prince -- -- Like everyone, he struggled early, missing from three and on a drive. Then he finally scored on a layup attacking off the line. He nailed the Lakers first three after six previous attempts in that first half. That would be their only made three of the half. He’d knock down a jumpstep jumper in the lane. He drew some big FTs with 43.9 seconds left (Spencer wanted the swing pass). He attacked off the three line and got the call, then made both clutch ones to tie it up on the comeback. The Stats: He scored 9 points on 3-10 shooting (1-5 from three, 2-2 from the line) to go with 4 boards, 1 assist and 3 turnovers in 28 minutes. He was a +10.

Christie -- -- Brief stint in this game. He was a +6 in 7 minutes. Not sure why they didn’t give him any more time, but he scored a layup off a rare-screen roll where he was the roll man. The Stats: He scored 2 points on 1-2 shooting (0-1 from three) to go with 1 board in 7 minutes. He was a +6.

Reddish -- -- Some brief action out there, but no impact. The Stats: He had no stats in 7 minutes. He was a -3.

Hayes -- -- His only score was an And-1 layup on a pass thrown at his ankles by AD. Good job turning that into something. He also got stripped putting the ball on the floor after an offensive board. He also threw a pass away on a pushout on the break. Too many turnovers. We ran him some at PF alongside AD in this game and had just a few minutes of no AD on the floor, as well. The Stats: He scored 2 points on 1-1 shooting (0-1 from the line) to go with 4 boards, 3 turnovers and 3 fouls in 17 minutes. He was a -5.

Ham -- -- Key Moment: The Lakers held the Bucks to 13 points in the fourth quarter. “That’s money time,” Ham said. There was a stretch of 7 minutes after the Lakers went down 19 where they held the Bucks to just 5 points. Great energy by Reaves, but just about everyone contributed. Big threes by Russell and AD. After shooting so poorly (1-13 from three in the first half), the law of averages came to play for the Lakers with their shooting. Really, though, Reaves did an admirable job on the point-of-attack defense during this stretch as well as help D. That was impressive.

Key Substitution: I guess go with not subbing in the deep bench down 19 in the fourth on the first night of the back-to-back. Really no standout bench play in this one.

Key Stats: The freethrow shooting was sensational (30-32). That’s what you got to do on the road. The Lakers made 13-31 threes in the second half and OT. That’s 41.9%, which is about what they’ve been shooting pretty consistently lately. That first half shooting (1-13) from three was what really did them in. They missed some chippies, but that got them in a hole. Lakers got killed on the break 27-8 on the break.

[pointfour]

first.

[RhodyRay]

DB,

Thanks for the write up. Didn't see the game but I will make sure I do!

GREAT WIN LAKERS!
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Let them HATE so long as they FEAR!

[pointfour]

Thanks DB!! Your write-ups have allowed me to maintain somewhat of a pulse on the team this year with increased family obligations.

AD and Austin with huge games. Admittedly, I was only able to tune in toward the end of the 4th. But wow, that double OT definitely increased my blood pressure

If they keep this up, they maybe able to sneak into the 8th spit.

Also, I'm liking what Dinwiddie has added to the team. Namely the aggression and the way he attacks the basket with force. Also, as you mentioned his defense has increased this teams versatility.

Bring on Memphis!

[Dr. Laker]

Thanks, DB!

A win is a win.

This was a WIN!
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On Lakersground, a concern troll is someone who is a fan of another team, but pretends to be a Lakers fan with "concerns".

[RI Laker]

Thanks DB and congrats. I guess your pockets are empty.

[mad55557777]

It’s wild that we swept the bucks this season without lebron

[Robblake]

This team has a lot of grit. Curious how it matches up with SAC/Den for a series of 7

[michaelg]

Thanks DB. Great free throw shooting. I felt confident with Reaves, Russell and AD shooting them late in the game on the road. What a difference from some of these Laker squads we’ve watched.

It’s a head scratcher as to why it’s so difficult for this team to get started in the first quarter. It’s like they spot teams 15 points before they get going, on the regular. At least that’s led to some nice moments this season, which I appreciate as a fan. But our guys are playing 45-50 minutes in these games which costs them. Can they possibly clean up this first quarter issue this late in the season?

We’ll see how the back to back plays out, the NBA schedule is insane. It was good seeing the guys playing for each other. They’ve got some momentum and have an opportunity to make this road trip into something special.

[A Mad Chinaman]

Lakers not named LBJ decided that "They Gotta Have Heart!"

Lakers are facing the reality of being "the team they are and the team they ought to be"

[Nobody]

Oof, this has to be one of the biggest wins this season. Dug a huge hole in the first, came back multiple times only to see the Bucks lead baloon to 10 again. Incredible grit by the team. Now they just have to figure out how to bottle up that fight and bring it on a consistent basis.

[danzag]

Thanks, DB! What a great win!!!!

[markjay]

[kfkilla]

One of my favorite games all time. The sheer amount of will that was on display from EVERYONE that played was a site to behold. I was telling myself near the end of the 4th and each OT that no matter what I’m so proud of these cats.

Say what you will about AD, but dude is giving us every ounce that he has out there. 30/20 nights are supposed to be rarities, dude has one every other night.


Say what you will about Dlo but dude was catalyst for every surge the lakers made throughout the game.

Also say what you will about AR, but dude had Kobe eyes in the latter part of this game. He was ALLLLLLL in. It was actually creepy how much will he was able to summon.

[joeblow]

[DancingBarry]

[A Mad Chinaman]

[JUST-MING]

HBK

[TooMuchMajicBuss]

Thanks DB! Very encouraged by the grit showed by AD/DLO/AR in this game, and everyone else who contributed on defense. i like how DLO and AR support each other, and I think Dinwiddie is a great addition from that perspective. Even if his offense was off, he had a positive impact on the game.

Good to see Reeves rediscover the clutch monster that he was last season!

Edit: I left out Rui and his 14 rebounds...

[Theseus]

Still can't believe we won. Really love these team effort games. We had 5 different guys knock down CLUTCH free throws to win this one. That kind of thing is rare. A lot of guys showing up to get us over the finish line and its a joy to see.

[deal]

Pretty incredible game...Thanks for the recap DB.
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Lakers need to build a freaking team !

[LakerLanny]

Russell...10-10 from the FT Line and cold blooded lately in a big way.

He broke NVE's 3 pt record for crissakes, get into it.
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Love, Laker Lanny