Andre Drummond injures toe in L.A. debut; Lakers fall to Bucks
Making his debut in the purple and gold, Andre Drummond struggled to stay on the floor. The 6-10 big man finished with just four points, two assists, a rebound and a block in 14 minutes as the visiting Milwaukee Bucks rolled to a 112-97 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers on Wednesday at the Staples Center.
Drummond did not start the second half. After entered the game at the 9:29 mark of the third quarter, Drummond subbed himself out a minute and a half later and went back to the locker room limping with his right shoe off.
Drummond said Milwaukee center Brook Lopez stepped on his right foot in the first quarter, causing the nail on his big toe to come off.
Drummond appeared to be tending to the big toe on his right foot on the bench during the second half. Drummond started the game in place of Marc Gasol at center, who got his first time on the floor at the start of the fourth quarter.
“After halftime I finally took my sock off to look and my whole toenail was gone,” Drummond said. “It was just all bad from there. I couldn’t walk or run, so I just told coach (Frank Vogel) to take me out.”
The Lakers announced that Drummond suffered a right big toe contusion. X-rays on the injury were negative and he did not return to the game.
“He almost didn’t return after halftime,” Lakers head coach Frank Vogel said. “He gave it a run, but you could see he was limping, so we got him out to see if the doctors could work on him a little bit, but he wasn’t able to return.
“He’ll be re-evaluated tomorrow (Thursday), we’ll see how it feels overnight and he’ll be day-to-day.”
The Lakers jumped out to a 30-24 lead in the opening quarter. However, the Bucks outscored L.A. 33-19 in the second quarter to take a 57-49 halftime lead and never trailed the rest of the way.
The Lakers dropped to 30-18 with a loss -- half-game ahead of the Denver Nuggets (29-18) for fourth place in the Western Conference. L.A. now hits the road for a seven-game road trip, the team’s longest road trip of the second half of the season.
The Bucks stopped a three-game slide with the win, upping their record to 30-17 on the season.
Top player: Montrezl Harrell topped the Lakers with 19 points, one of four L.A. players that finished in double figures. Joining Harrell were Dennis Schröder (17), Kyle Kuzma (16 points) and Markieff Morris (15 points).
What I liked: Wesley Matthews shot 3-of-7 from beyond the arc, finishing with nine points. Over his past five games, Matthews is shooting 40 percent from the 3-point-line. The Lakers made eight of their first 12 3-pointers against Milwaukee, then missed 22 of their final 24.
What I didn’t like: Milwaukee held a 44-30 advantage in paint points and forced 20 L.A. turnovers, scoring 24 points off those miscues.
Injuries: The Lakers played without LeBron James for a seventh game this season as he works to return from a right, high-ankle sprain. Along with James, L.A.’s other superstar Anthony Davis missed his 20th game in a row because of a right calf strain. Both remain out indefinitely.
They said it: “In the first quarter there was a lot of energy from our guys and myself. We were having a lot of fun out there. It’s just unfortunate that (injury) happened in my first game.” Drummond on how he played before suffering the toe injury.
