The Los Angeles Lakers and LeBron James fell last night to the reigning MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Milwaukee Bucks as the Greek Freak showed a new phase in his game on Thursday by hitting five 3-pointers against the Lakers in the win.
Antetokounmpo is taking nearly six 3-pointers per game, making him even more feared one season after winning his first MVP award. Anthony Davis guarded Antetokounmpo several times throughout the night but the Lakers were content to let him step into 3-pointers if it meant not letting him attack the basket. After the game, James simply tipped his cap to Giannis.
LeBron "tips his hat" to Giannis' career-high 5 threes. pic.twitter.com/CJOC3meSd1
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) December 20, 2019
After the game, James felt that the Lakers played a pretty good game considering it was at the end of a road trip and at the end of a stretch where they played 12 of 15 games on the road. But James was disappointed with the Lakers defense, particularly in the second quarter where they allowed Milwaukee to score 42 points and shoot over 60 percent from the field, according to The Athletic’s Bill Oram.
“Take away the second quarter, we played an exceptional game,” James said. “Especially being at the end of a road trip. But that’s a really good team, well coached, they play exceptional basketball, but that second quarter pretty much got us.”
The Lakers are off until Sunday when they host Nikola Jokic, Jamal Murray and the Denver Nuggets.