Despite their best efforts, the Los Angeles Lakers came up short against the Milwaukee Bucks after collapsing in the final minutes of the fourth quarter.
He was the good and the bad from their 131-120 loss to Milwaukee on Friday.
The Good: Ingram and LeBron
For the most part, Lakers fans know what they’re getting from LeBron James. When fully healthy, he’s a triple-double threat and Friday night was no exception, as he tallied 31 points, 10 assists and 7 rebounds in 38:49.
However, Brandon Ingram is less predictable. Yes, he’s playing some of the best basketball of his career, but there’s plenty of room for skepticism when you taken into account the rest of his career.
Ingram put all of that skepticism to bed, maybe for the foreseeable, with a dominant performance against Milwaukee.
In 39:15, Ingram also scored 31 points on an efficient 13-21 shooting from the field to go along with 8 rebounds. He was incredible, and it was just the latest of impressive games for the 21-year-old forward.
Yes, a win would have been nice, but it’s nice to see Ingram and James not just co-exist, but thrive with each other.
The Bad: Luke Walton
Lakers head coach Luke Walton’s lineup management continues to be one of the most frustrating things about this team, if not the most frustrating.
Instead of playing Reggie Bullock, who posted a team-high box plus-minus of +9, Walton played Kentavious Caldwell-Pope 12 minutes in the fourth quarter. Caldwell-Pope ended the night with a game-low box plus-minus of -22, including -12 in the fourth quarter.
Had Walton just made a few crucial adjustments in crunch time, the Lakers might have walked away with a win. Instead, he was out-coached by Mike Budenholzer.
