Milwaukee Bucks will solve their questions on the road as they continue a journey with five games through the Western conference with a visit to Los Angeles Lakers on Thursday.
It will be the second meeting between the teams in eight days after Bucks got a 126-106 home victory over Lakers on March 13.
Bucks (38-30) has played only two of their last eight matches on the road but lost both, including a defeat of 104-93 to the Golden State Warriors on Tuesday. Giannis Antetokounmpo scored 20 points but was 5 out of 16 from the floor.
Kyle Kuzma, who led Milwaukee with 22 points, has an average of 13.7 points with 6.4 returns in 19 matches (18 starts) since joining Bucks at the trading deadline. Kuzma played his first four seasons with Lakers after he was the 27th overall draft 2017.
“The last pairs of games during the fourth quarter we try to be too selfless instead of going down and getting something to happen,” Antetokounmpo said after Bucks was outscored 26-17 during the fourth quarter. “If I and (Damian Lillard) are not aggressive in the route, we don’t drive too.”
Milwaukee is only 14-18 on the road this season and is the only team among the six best at the Eastern Conference that has a losing record away from its own building.
Bucks saw Warriors deducted a 16-0 driving between the third and fourth quarter to turn a six-point deficit into a 10-point management.
“We do not have the right distance, the ball does not move, we do not attack, we do not get into the color,” said Milwaukee head coach Doc Rivers. “I have a whole list. … It’s my job to get them to do it offensively and to trust. We get into these periods when we just stop trusting.”
In a game that lacked significant Star Power Wednesday, Lakers got the best of Denver Nuggets by taking a 28-point in the first half and finishing a victory 120-108.
Luka Doncic scored 21 of her 31 points during the first quarter when Los Angeles took an early 46-29 lead. Doncic added eight returns, while Austin Reaves added 22 points with eight assists.
“This is kind of what he does and has done throughout his career,” Laker’s head coach JJ Redick said about Doncic’s strong first quarter. “We want him to be aggressive no matter what, but he will play properly. His teammates have been talking about it in recent days.”
While the Lakers (43-25) were without the starters LeBron James (groin) and Rui Hachimura (knee), the nugs played without Nikola Jokic (ankle/elbow) and Jamal Murray (Ankel). James has missed the last six games, while Hachimura has been out in 11, with both listed as daily.
The Lakers are in a winning line with three games and have won each of their last nine home games while improving to 28-7 in their own arena. It is the second best home record in the Western Conference.
“Our group has been fantastic at home, they have,” Redick said. “But you have to play the next match and win the match in front of you.”
The big lead on Wednesday allowed Lakers to sit Doncic for the entire fourth quarter while the team is in a distance of six matches in eight days.
-Field level media
