03/01: LAKERS vs. Milwaukee Bucks 1st Half Open Thread

Welcome to the first half open thread of the Lakers' Friday Night matchup vs. the Milwaukee Bucks. Playoff implications at stake right here against an elite team in the East. Leave a comment below and share your thoughts on the game.

Q2

MIL 59 LAL 65

Now that was a much better finish to an overall strong first half from the Lakers. This is pretty much a playoff game for the Purple and Gold and they've answered the challenge. Milwaukee is getting some buckets for themselves. But, they're offense is not as crisp as Mike Budenholzer expects it to be. We gotta give credit to the Lakers' defense on that. They've disrupted the Bucks' flow a bit. In these last few games, I think we've figured out who LeBron's partner-in-crime is. Brandon Ingram stays hot. 16 points, a perfect 8-8 shooting to go with 6 rebounds. You look at his numbers since the All-Star break, 27 points, 29 points, 32 points, and 23 points in the past few games. It's a small sample size, but I think B.I. is starting to find his role on this team. Whether or not he retains this once Lonzo Ball returns (if he returns) remain to be seen, but we can't deny he has broken out and played better after the break. We've seen him turn it on a few times once the All-Star break is over. But, this is just on another level. So far, the Lakers are dictating the pace here in this game minus a couple of sloppy sequences where the Bucks took advantage and cashed in on some points. Not to mention, the Lakers had a lot of open looks, but players are not hitting their shots and they left a lot of points behind in this half. 2nd half will open up shortly.

Q1

MIL 27 LAL 26

Eh, a bitter finish to what was a strong 1st quarter. Slow start for both teams. It was a little ugly seeing Rajon Rondo miss a whole lot of wide open threes. As I said, the Bucks can live with him hitting those from deep since he's not that good. He hit one, but that's not saying much. Onto more positives, Brandon Ingram continues to be on a tear. He had 10 points this quarter and I believe he's leading the team in scoring early on. I'm really excited that he has come on since the All-Star break. Nonetheless, despite trailing by one, the Lakers shown they can keep up with these Bucks. The defensive activity was evident with LeBron hounding Brook and Muscala with the big block on Antetokounmpo before the buzzer.