This was turning into a hell of a game. An instant classic if I dare say. Giannis came into town to visit LeBron and the Lakers at Staples Center for a Friday night national TV spectacle. The Lakers played their ASSES off, particularly Brandon Ingram who poured in 31-8-2 on 13/21 shooting....but it was a timely error by Kentavious Caldwell Pope that blessed Milwaukee with the break to gain some distance between them and the suring Lakers. Bucks with the tense victory, 131-120
Eric Bledsoe (31-9-5, 12/24), fresh off of drying the ink off his new contract extension, was the man of the hour for Milwaukee. The bruising guard was a total bowling ball in the paint, driving and muscling hapless defenders out of the way for and-1 after and-1. Giannis didn't even have a lights out scoring game (16-15-6-0-3, 7/14), but he did enough to keep the defense busy while Eric Bledsoe wreaked havoc on the spirits of Los Angeles.
It was such a close game man, and Brandon Ingram was on fire. This win would've been a true coming out party for BI and a rallying cry for the whole team, but the brain fart KCP turnover on the inbound when it was a three-point game with 1:48 to play was too much to overcome. Kudos to Milwaukee on converting the opportunities afterward when they fell in their laps. I'm bummed as hell man. Rhythm of the Game has my roller coaster of emotions from start to finish.
Rhythm Of The Game
To my surprise, the Lakers found themselves up six on the Bucks when the halftime buzzer rang thanks to a solid offensive effort peppered with key stops. Brandon Ingram was undeniably in his bag tonight! He was 8/8 from the floor with 16 points, a couple of which were striking, highlight reel drives. LeBron found himself in the highlight reel too with an awe-inspiring reverse dunk off a Kuzma miss. The team was engaged. They looked good from top to bottom.
The Bucks looked solid themselves though. Balanced scoring from the starters with 11 points apiece to Bledsoe, Middleton, and Brook Lopez. Giannis hadn't even flipped the switch just yet. He only had 8 points on 3/6, but the Greek Freak did manage to palm ten rebounds at the half. We were in for a lot more game in the next 24. Lakers ahead 59-65 heading into the third.
The Bucks opened up the third on a quick run of transition buckets to flirt with a 3-4 point deficit. Right when they seemed like they were on their way to tie it, BRANDON INGRAM laid the smack down on Milwaukee! A couple pretty jumpers punctuated by an absolute BEAST of a dunk of Brook Lopez! The energy in the building was electric and the Lakers bench was on fire! Twelve point Laker lead as the Bucks called timeout.
Things were great for a few minutes, but the good times couldn't last forever. Milwaukee was too good! They dug themselves out of that twelve point hole like nothing thanks to a combination of powerful Bledsoe drives and timely three-balls. Before we knew it, the Bucks were actually up one on the home team, 83-82. Bledsoe was aggressive as hell, and no Laker was willing to step up and defend him in the paint tonight.
LA faced the challenge admirably, even tempting to build another sizable lead at one point thanks to more heroics from Brandon. He was truly on fire tonight! Every bucket only made the crowd more ravaged, as he already had 29 on 13/19 from the floor at the end of the third quarter. One-point Laker lead heading into the final quarter. Crunch time - commence!
In the opening minutes of the fourth, Giannis really grasped his giant hands around the throat of this game. He was clearly looking out for his shot now, which resulted in the defense focusing harder on him then freeing up his teammates for open cuts! Mind you, this all happened when LeBron and Brandon were getting some rest.
Milwaukee was about to break open a ten-point lead, but then BI and Bron came back in and closed it! Tie game at 106 with seven full minutes to play. This game was turning into a classic of epic proportions. It felt like we were blessed with highlight play after highlight play from Bron, Giannis, BI, Rondo, and everyone on each side. We were still locked in a dead even heat with 3:30 to play 113-113.
Eric Bledsoe was on a TEAR in the paint for the Bucks though! He looked like he was single-handedly keeping them in it, responding with huge and-1 drive after drive in this tense, down-to-the-wire game. The Lakers started getting careless with the ball around the two-minute mark, and the Bucks began getting to the line like a team of Hardens. Three-point Milwaukee lead with under two minutes to play, 121-118.
Right as I typed those words, the Lakers inbounded the ball from under the Bucks hoop with under two minutes to play, and tossed it straight into the hands of the enemy. Malcolm Brogdon scuttled into the corner for a three - bang. Kentavious Caldwell-Pope was the culprit in the bad pass. Moments later, Bledsoe hit a three to make it a nine-point game. Only 40 seconds left and this one was all but over.
Takeaways.
The Lakers played a two-way, air-tight game (for their standards) for 46 full minutes. Everyone was engaged, BI was balling, Bron & Rondo were showing out too. All of that felt like it was washed down the drain with that stupid KCP inbounds pass.
That brain fart reminded me of JR Smith dribbling the clock out during Game 1 of the NBA Finals. Just like that game, LeBron's side was putting up a hell of a performance against a clearly superior team (althought he had a colossal 50 in Game 1), but then it was a frazzled teammate who ended up throwing away the chance for a miracle.
Little plays like this are an only further affirmation that the Lakers won't truly contend until they seriously upgrade their role players. That plus their poor free throw shooting will continue to take away chances for miracle victories, or it'll piss games away that they had every right winning.
Brandon Ingram's amazing performance gives me hella hope for the future, but Magic and Pelinka need to be better GM's when it comes to picking up players on the margins. KCP, Rondo, JaVale, Lance, and Beasley just wasn't the solution to win us big games consistently, despite other great performances by our stars. It'll probably cost us a chance from appearing in the playoffs this year too. A damn shame.
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