LOS ANGELES — The Lakers have shown that LeBron James’ presence on the court isn’t the be-all and end-all when it comes to them earning wins.
Friday night’s 123-122 victory over the Milwaukee Bucks at Crypto.com Arena was the latest example, with the Lakers improving to 5-4 on the season without James in the lineup.
After a relatively quiet first quarter compared to the rest of his night, D’Angelo Russell had arguably his best performance of the season: a season-high 44 points on 17-for-25 shooting (a career-high tying nine 3-pointers), including 21 of the Lakers’ 27 fourth-quarter points and the go-ahead basket with 5.9 seconds left.
“That’s D-Lo man, just playmaking, constantly thinking the game,” Coach Darvin Ham said. “He kept his word when I told him to take over the game. I told him in the first half, stay aggressive. I need you to be aggressive all night. And he did that.”
Spencer Dinwiddie blocked Damian Lillard’s step-back jumper right before the buzzer to preserve a stirring victory for the Lakers (35-30), who bounced back from a discouraging loss to Sacramento on Wednesday to win for the 11th time in their past 15 games as they fight to gain any ground in the Western Conference playoff race.
“Obviously, Dame’s one of the best clutch-time performers that the NBA’s seen,” Dinwiddie said. “To be able to make that play was fun. It was a great moment.”
The Lakers and Bucks went back and forth for most of Friday, with neither team opening a double-digit lead at any point in the game, and the Lakers took a 96-90 lead into the fourth and a 110-109 lead into the final four minutes.
The teams kept exchanging leads, with Giannis Antetokounmpo (34 points, 14 rebounds, 12 assists) making plays for the Bucks to put them in front 120-115 with 1:30 left.
Russell, who also had nine assists and six rebounds, made a 3-pointer to trim Milwaukee’s lead to 120-118 with just over a minute remaining.
Dinwiddie was called for a…
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