The Los Angeles Lakers were dominated by Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Milwaukee Bucks on Tuesday (116-131). The Greek Freak was close to a triple-double with 44 points, 14 rebounds and 8 assists.
At half time Milwaukee had a commanding 22-point lead which they held until the fourth quarter. Once again the Lakers had major problems on the defensive end as they allowed the Bucks to score 38 and 40 points in the first two quarters.
Lakers head coach Frank Vogel was blunt when talking about the way his team defended in the first half. “Terrible defensive half,” he said after the game.
He then proceeded to specify what issues Los Angeles had on the defensive end. “Disposition, competition, level of competitive spirit we showed for a big was very disappointing, containment, blow-by’s, broken coverages, not getting back on defense, not hitting people on the glass enough, not being physical enough overall. Two straight games we started with a terrible defensive half. We got to make it that right.”
Three players scored 20 or more points for the Lakers, namely LeBron James (27), Anthony Davis (22) and Malik Monk (20). It was another tough game for Russell Westbrook who played just 26 minutes and finished the game with 10 points, 10 rebounds and 5 assists.
Despite the loss, the purple and gold keep 9th place in the Western Conference with 26 wins and 29 losses. Meanwhile Milwaukee (35-21) jumped to the second place in the East.
