Lakers at Bucks
The two teams that share the best record in the NBA will possess the same floor when the Milwaukee Bucks host the Los Angeles Lakers on Thursday. Both clubs lost their most recent game with Milwaukee seeing an 18-game winning streak reach an end and Los Angeles having its seven-game victory streak halted.
The Bucks fell two games shy of matching the franchise mark for consecutive victories set during the 1970-71 season when they lost 120-116 to a Dallas Mavericks' squad missing star guard Luka Doncic on Monday, but their attention quickly turned to the Lakers. "Yeah, obviously, it's gonna be a good game, gonna be a test for us," Milwaukee star forward Giannis Antetokounmpo told reporters after recording 48 points and 14 rebounds against Dallas. "The Lakers are one of the best teams in the league. ... Obviously, we don't want to lose two in a row." Los Angeles had its 14-game road winning streak halted Tuesday when it succumbed 105-102 to the Indiana Pacers with star power forward Anthony Davis (ankle) sidelined. "We pride ourselves on trying not to lose two in a row so we want to come back on Thursday in Milwaukee and play Lakers' basketball," forward LeBron James said after the setback.
TV: 8 p.m. ET, TNT, Spectrum SportsNet (Los Angeles)
ABOUT THE LAKERS (24-4): Davis injured his right ankle during Sunday's game against the Atlanta Hawks and the team hopes not playing against the Pacers will allow him to be on the floor against Milwaukee. Backup center Dwight Howard enjoyed his top game of the campaign with a season-best 20 points on 10-of-10 shooting and he also had six rebounds and two blocked shots in 26 minutes of action. "Dwight was great at finishing at the basket and gave us great defense as well," Los Angeles coach Frank Vogel said afterward. "He had a great performance."
ABOUT THE BUCKS (24-4): Milwaukee went 5 1/2 weeks without losing and the club had a sense of accomplishment in the wake of being knocked off by the Mavericks. "At the end of the day, it was amazing," Antetokounmpo said. "We played good basketball. We played good teams, we played bad teams. But we were able to get the job done. (Monday night), we weren't able to do that. But nobody said it was going to be easy." While Antetokounmpo was 18-of-31 shooting against Dallas, the other four starters tallied just 23 points on 9-of-34 shooting.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. The Bucks have defeated the Lakers a franchise-record five straight times.
2. Milwaukee swingman Kyle Korver established season bests of 17 points and five 3-pointers against Dallas.
3. Los Angeles F Kyle Kuzma (ankle) could miss his fifth straight game.