The Lakers have quietly been one of the better clutch teams in the NBA this season, 18-8 coming into Friday night in games within five points in the final five minutes, the highest winning percentage in the league (they have a +6.7 net rating in those minutes).
Make that 19-8 after the Lakers made key plays down the stretch to beat the Bucks Friday 123-122 — and they did it without LeBron James.
It starts with a monster night from D’Angelo Russell — 44 points, hitting 9-of-12 from 3. However, his biggest shot was a game-winning floater in the lane with 5.9 seconds left.
That still left time for the Bucks to tie the game or take the lead and they have the most clutch player in the league in Damian Lillard. Doc Rivers drew up a play to isolate Lillard, but Spencer Dinwiddie read it well and came up with the game-saving block.
Giannis Antetokounmpo had a triple-double of 34 points, 14 rebounds and 12 assists. Anthony Davis added 22 points and 13 rebounds to lead the Lakers.
The win moved the Lakers up to ninth in the West, half-a-game ahead of the Warriors and one game back of the eighth-seed Mavericks. Los Angeles needs win right now to improve their play-in seeding and Russell and Dinwiddie made sure they got a big one despite LeBron having the night off.
The questions about the Bucks and their playoff chances linger. With their loss and the Cavalier’s win on Friday, Milwaukee falls back to the No. 3 seed. They have a little over a month to straighten everything out before the playoffs begin.
