All Lakers Expert Predictions For First Bucks Bout Of Damian Lillard Era
After blowing a 19-point first quarter lead to the Sacramento Kings on Wednesday, your Los Angeles Lakers' road back to league-wide respectability will face its next major obstacle in its very next game: a home clash tonight against the mighty Milwaukee Bucks, who have shored up their perimeter defense upon upgrading from Adrian Griffin to Doc Rivers on their bench midseason.
This will mark LA's first encounter with the Bucks since Milwaukee brought together its new All-Star tandem of Giannis Antetokounmpo-Damian Lillard.
Sporting a 41-22 record, Milwaukee is now a very distant No. 2 seed behind the 48-14 Boston Celtics in the East. Sporting a 16-15 road record, the Bucks will square off against the 34-30 Lakers, who boast a 22-11 record at home.
Here are our expert predictions for the battle.
Can Los Angeles pull off an impressive W over an elite playoff contender?
The Lakers have been fairly erratic of late when it comes to their performance against postseason squads. They couldn't close out Sacramento on Wednesday, but managed to once again beat the Oklahoma City Thunder on Monday. They were never a real threat to beat the Denver Nuggets last Saturday, but rallied from a massive deficit to beat the Los Angeles Clippers last Wednesday. They couldn't hold their own against the Phoenix Suns two weeks ago. The big consistent edge LA seemed to have in those victories? They came against teams that were fairly thin up front. The Bucks, unfortunately, don't have that problem. Milwaukee sports a formidable rotation of power forwards and centers in All-Star four Antetokounmpo, recent All-Defensive Team 3-and-D center Brook Lopez, bench power forward Jae Crowder, and floor-spacing reserve center/power forward Bobby Portis. LA will have its work cut out for it.
Will D'Angelo Russell and Austin Reaves be able to capitalize against one of the worst defensive starting backcourts in the NBA?
Damian Lillard may be an elite scorer (though he's not quite his Portland Trail Blazers-era superstar self anymore), but he's an awful defender. Given that Lillard's backcourt mate is Malik Beasley, a former Lakers wing who was so bad on both sides of the rock that was quickly booted from Darvin Ham's playoff lineup entirely last spring, this could be a golden opportunity for D-Lo and AR to take on a bit more of the scoring burden for Los Angeles.
