When the Lakers were playing their best basketball in February, they were fueled by the energizing power of belief, the knowledge that they could win on any night. Even when they weren’t at their best, a mixture of pace, toughness and execution got the Lakers through the finish line.
Now, as they’re slogging through March, the bulk of their frontcourt back in Los Angeles resting and rehabbing injuries, the tank looks much emptier, the joy much more fleeting and the belief, at least temporarily, disappearing in a 126-106 loss.
Even with Luka Doncic scoring 45 points, his most since the Lakers acquired him from Dallas, the game never really looked within reach for Los Angeles. Instead, they played 48 minutes in sort of a futile chase, forced to double-team Giannis Antetokounmpo only to leave a shooter wide open at the three-point line.
“It has to be another night where we have to do both,” coach JJ Redick said of the Lakers’ challenge pregame. “We have to protect the paint and we have to close out and guard their lasers.”
They didn’t do either.
While it was clear that Redick’s diagnosis of the Lakers’ defensive responsibilities would be too much for them to handle, something else he said before the blowout loss was probably more important than anything that happened in the four quarters to follow.
Redick said LeBron James, Rui Hachimura and Jaxson Hayes were no longer with the Lakers on this trip, meaning none of them will be available Friday night in Denver against the Nuggets. But Redick also said that the trio of players, James included, would be considered “day-to-day” moving forward, meaning the Lakers have a good chance to get whole sooner than later.
Doncic’s 45 points came from the wild array of skills he possesses — deep threes, drives where he pulled the emergency brake for a pull-up jumper and trips to the line thanks to his physicality. Austin Reaves, who struggled in the Lakers’ loss to Brooklyn, scored 28.
But other than Doncic and Reaves, no other Lakers player ever provided much of an offensive threat.
Five Bucks scored at least 16 points, with plenty of Milwaukee’s 17 made threes coming off wide-open looks.
The Lakers, who have lost three in a row, close out the trip Friday in Denver — another tough game where the Lakers will be severely undermanned.
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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
