On Tuesday night, the Lakers’ game against the defending champions didn’t end as they might have planned.
The Bucks, leading with 30 points at a time, dominated and comfortably won 131-116 after a 44-point night from Giannis Antetokounmpo.
Milwaukee soon separated itself from the hosts, thanks to a 26-8 win in the first quarter, and only built on that for the rest of the run.
For most of the game, the Lakers couldn’t even compete with the Bucks.
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In Q4, however, they took the lead – hovering around 20 for most of the game – down to 10 but couldn’t get past it. This late game comes with Russell Westbrook on the bench.
In fact, unlike recent cases where the superstar keeper was benched throughout the fourth half, in this match he was not called up at all, as he was knocked out at mark 2: 34 of the third inning.
“Honestly, I didn’t need to hit any benchmarks,” Westbrook said. “I put in a lot of effort, I get a lot of respect in this game.”
Russell Westbrook on the standards he must meet to be on the Lakers final lineup for Frank Vogel (question via @kylegoon): pic.twitter.com/21sqg7lvnR
– Ryan Ward (@RyanWardLA) February 9, 2022
At the final whistle, the former MVP of the tournament shot 3/11 from the field to score 10 points. In the last four games, including this one, Westbrook has shot 14 of 51 from the field and 2 of 13 from outside the arc.
When the Lakers abandoned the white flag after their brave battle in the fourth inning, Westbrook was seen consoling LeBron James and Anthony Davis.
He was Report is shared with them that he wished he could help them but couldn’t because he wasn’t in the game in the final stages.
Russ tries to cheer LeBron and AD after tough loss to Bucks ❤️ pic.twitter.com/xhD8MXqfKM
– ESPN (@espn) February 9, 2022
Westbrook’s situation with the Lakers has been the talk of the town later this year, especially as he struggled and underperformed.
When asked about that moment in the final seconds of the game, LeBron James reflected on the chemistry between the team’s Big 3.
“I want to help AD. I want to help Russ. AD wants to help me help Russ and Russ wants to help us,” James said after the game. “Recently, Russ doesn’t feel like he has a chance or with an opportunity given, he hasn’t helped us as much as he’d like. We haven’t done a good job helping him.”
With this loss, their 10th loss in their last 15 games, the Lakers have stumbled 26-29 for the season.
They are currently 9th seed, half a game behind 8th seed LA Clippers and 3.5 games ahead of 10th seed New Orleans Pelicans.
“We have to try and turn this around before it gets really bad,” Anthony Davis said after the game.
