The Milwaukee Bucks snapped a three-game losing streak with a nearly wire-to-wire 126-106 victory over the short-handed Los Angeles Lakers Thursday night at Fiserv Forum.

Bucks all-star point guard Damian Lillard broke down the three losses to Orlando, Cleveland and Indiana and said, “I think it just becomes a mental game at that point. That’s where you gotta show.

“We’re a veteran team. You gotta be able to move on from those moments where it’s like man, ‘if we would’ve done this or we would’ve done that or we win for sure two out of those three games.’ But I think we showed our maturity. We showed what a veteran team should show.”

With the regular season shortening, it was a nice win for the Bucks (37-28) before hosting a big game Saturday night against rival Indiana. Oklahoma City – the No. 1 team in the West – comes to Milwaukee on Sunday.

BOX SCORE:Bucks 126, Lakers 106

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The Lakers (40-24) lost their third straight without LeBron James in the lineup, as he strained a groin in Boston on Saturday. Already undersized after trading away Anthon Davis to acquire Luka Dončić, the Lakers were also without 7-foot center Jaxson Hayes and 6-8 forward Rui Hachimura.

Milwaukee played to its strengths, with 7-foot Giannis Antetokounmpo scoring 24 points and pulling down 11 rebounds and 7-1 center Brook Lopez scoring 21 points.

“We did it the right way,” Lopez said of the victory. “We came out from the jump with the right attitude. And I thought also that the past three games, we played well for the majority of the games, but we definitely played a full 48 tonight.”

Antetokounmpo nearly had a triple-double, handing out nine assists. Along with Lopez, the Bucks’ two big men led a balanced effort for the Bucks, who saw Lillard scored 22 points and hand out 10 assists. Kevin Porter Jr. (22) and Gary Trent Jr. (16) provided a scoring pop off the bench.

Dončić scored 45 points had 11 rebounds while Austin Reaves scored 28 points.

Luka Dončić not enough to topple Bucks

With James back in California rehabbing, Dončić and Austin Reaves were left as the primary scorers for the Bucks to contend with. Dončić, who came into the game as questionable to play with an ankle issue and clearly nursing a sore back, was a one-man wrecking crew and kept his team within shouting distance of the Bucks with his 45

th

career game with at least 40 points, racking up 45 on 14-of-27 shooting.

“We guarded him one-on-one for the most part,” Bucks head coach Doc Rivers said. “We did send a couple double teams. But our thinking was guard everybody else and try to make him work on the other end and see how much he had in his tank, really. He had 45, which is a lot, but I liked how it worked out.”

He was also 10 of 12 from the free throw line.

Dončić had 29 of the Lakers’ 63 first half points, making 9 of his 15 shots and going 6 of 8 from behind the three-point line.

“I mean, he’s an elite player,” Lillard said. “He makes threes off the bounce. He’s drawing fouls. I think that’s what makes it even more difficult because you want to be physical, you don’t want to let him go where he want to go, you want to kind of dictate to him as a defender.

“But each bump and each reach he’s manipulating the game and kind of putting pressure on referees to make those calls, so he’s taking that physicality away from the defense, drawing fouls, he’s shooting threes, he’s looking off the weak side, making plays. And you’ve got to give him a lot of attention.

“I think without ‘Bron out there that was to be expected, it was going to be pretty much how he played in Dallas. And that was how he came out.”

He single handedly kept his team in the game in the opening quarter, scoring 16 points as the Bucks led, 33-29. Los Angeles fell behind by as many as 12 in the second quarter before their star guard ripped off 10 consecutive points to pull his team back within a basket. Though he had just two assists in the half, Dončić’s gravity and shot-making eventually pulled more Bucks over in his direction to allow his teammates to find some space to operate.

But eventually the talent gap between the two teams proved too big for Dončić to bridge, as only Reaves reached double figures in scoring.

“As somebody who’s been in a situation like that at a time in my career I know that it’s hard to sustain that over the course of a game against a good team,” Lillard said. “We just had to keep coming, and I think eventually you not gonna keep making all of those shots, you not gonna be able to beat a good team that way on most nights.”

Doc Rivers continues to tweak rotations

Coming out of the all-star break, the Bucks lineup that had logged the second-most minutes together was the grouping of starting forward Kyle Kuzma, Gary Trent Jr., Kevin Porter Jr. and Jericho Sims. They had played eight games together, for 47 minutes.

Only the starters played more (10 games, 147 minutes).

A big part of that decision was so Antetokounmpo and Lillard could log more time together. The star duo rarely played without one another coming out of the break.

But in the last four games – including Thursday night vs. Los Angeles – that bench-laden group played just two minutes together as Rivers determined that something needed to change. It was due, in large part, to a lack of offense. While they played strong defense together (allowing just 99.0 points per 100 possessions), they scored just 102.0.

It wasn’t going to be a sustainable rotation for the postseason.

So, Rivers began staggering Antetokounmpo and Lillard’s minutes again with bench players, and then switching up those combinations. For instance, Porter and Green were first off the bench vs. Indiana, Porter and Trent were first off vs. the Lakers.

“I mean, shoot, when they start doing their thing and get it going like that it’s dang near impossible for teams,” Green told the Journal Sentinel when asked with matching up with the two all-stars. “We’ve got them two, and then depending who else is out there, you got three guys that are shooting the ball very well and making shots. So, is it just makes team have to choose.”

And, Rivers was still managing those new(er) lineups with Antetokounmpo and Lillard on minute restrictions.

“It just is what it is,” the coach said before the Lakers game. “You have a minute restriction you have a minute restriction, so there’s nothing you can do about it. You have Bobby (Portis) out, and there’s nothing you can do about it. So any type of us cementing a rotation is going to be very hard as far as playoff-wise, but still, with our guys and the way we play ‘em, we’re getting a pretty good idea of who plays with whom and what fits and what doesn’t. The numbers help us on that as well. We’re pretty confident there.”

Some of those numbers indicated that Sims and Antetokounmpo were not a good pair of bigs to play with one another, as neither are shooters. Even Sims acknowledged his defender would just leave him to help on the Bucks’ star.

So, Rivers separated the pair – like against the Lakers, Sims played mostly with Lillard. And, the pair found some chemistry with the point guard finding the big man for rim-rocking lobs.

“It just comes with reps,” Sims told the Journal Sentinel of building lob chemistry. “Especially with me. I don’t think people are used to throwing lobs to me – the direction of the ball really needs to be worked on, whether it’s how high to throw it or how low to throw it. It comes with reps.”

Another change that came with Rivers’ manipulation of the lineups was how Porter was used offensively. As perhaps the primary shot creator with the bench-laden lineup, he would often get into the paint to either set up a short midrange shot for himself or kick out threes for teammates.

Against the Lakers, he found himself in multiple catch-and-shoot situations from behind the three-point line. He made and attempted his season highs from beyond the arc, making 5 of 7 in scoring 22 points.

“It just shows the work, it shows the dynamic that I bring coming off the bench, being able to play off ball or on ball when needed,” Porter said. “When Giannis and Dame is out there I don’t have to be as ball dominant, so I want to use my spacing and cutting. But tonight they gave me a lot of wide open threes and I work too hard to pass those up, so that’s bread and butter.”

Did you notice?

With 5:33 left in the third quarter, Lopez – who will turn 37 years old on April 1 – raced from a double-team he sprung on Dončić at the top of the left wing to the right corner in to block a Dorian Finney-Smith three-point shot attempt. Lopez nearly barreled into the end of the Bucks’ bench after the shot, which Antetokounmpo picked up and took the other way.

“I can think of — I blocked an Al Horford three also in the corner a couple years ago — but that might be the last one,” Lopez said of the last three-pointer he can recall blocking. “I don’t know why I remember it, honestly. I guess it’s because it’s so rare.”

It was a spectacular show of athleticism for the 282-pounder, he finished with four rejections and 23 points on 8-of-9 shooting, including a 3-for-4 mark from behind the three-point line. It was the seventh game this season he blocked at least four shots.

5 numbers

3

• : Lob dunks by the Bucks, with two to Jericho Sims and one to Brook Lopez.

5

• : Season-high three-pointers made by Bucks reserve guard Kevin Porter Jr.

13:

• Points and assists double-doubles on the season for Damian Lillard.

45:

• Bench points for the Bucks before the regulars were pulled.

15-15

• : Bucks record against teams with a .500 record or better on the day of the game.

Is Giannis playing?

The Bucks’ star is probable to play as the team continues to manage his minutes after he strained a left calf on Feb. 5. Antetokounmpo has only recently gotten to the 34-minute mark consistently.

LeBron James is out for the Lakers

The league’s all-time leading scorer is not with the team, as he headed back to Los Angeles for treatment on a strained right groin. James strained his groin in the Lakers’ loss to the Boston Celtics on March 8, which the Lakers eventually lost.

What time is the Bucks game?

It is an early tip time tonight, scheduled for 6:30 p.m.

What channel are the Bucks on?

The game will be simulcast nationally on TNT/truTV/Max with Brian Anderson, Reggie Miller and Jared Greenberg on the call.

Bucks injury report

• Bobby Portis Jr., out (league suspension)
• Tyler Smith, out (back spasms)
• Chris Livingston, available (non-COVID illness)
• Giannis Antetokounmpo, available (left calf strain)
• Damian Lillard, available (right groin soreness)

Bucks starters

• Guards: Damian Lillard, Taurean Prince
• Forwards: Kyle Kuzma, Giannis Antetokounmpo
• Center: Brook Lopez

Bucks vs. Lakers odds, over/under

Milwaukee is a 6.5-point favorite over Los Angeles, with the over/under set at 224.5 points.