Lakers players were on a high after their thrilling 128-124 win over the Milwaukee Bucks in double-overtime on Tuesday.
With LeBron James sidelined, Anthony Davis put up 34 points and 23 rebounds to help the Lakers come back from 19 points down in the fourth quarter.
Speaking to reporters after the game, Davis said his team was well aware in the moment that it was a manageable deficit.
“A 20-point lead in this league now, it’s nothing because of the way the offense is right now in the league, so high-powered that you can wipe away a lead pretty fast,” he said.
Davis’ co-star for the evening was Austin Reaves, who finished with 29 points, 14 rebounds and 10 assists.
Reaves said the Lakers’ simply refused to give up when they were down 19, even though it would have been much easier to wave the white flag and start looking ahead.
“It was one of those moments that you could either flip the page to tomorrow, get ready for that game or you could go out and compete 110% and give yourself an opportunity or at least try to give yourself an opportunity to get back in the game,” Reaves said.
It was a bruising loss for the Bucks, who were surely expecting to beat a LeBron-less Lakers team at home.
“We’ve got to watch this game, learn from this game,” Giannis Antetokounmpo said. “Watch why we weren’t able to get a stop. Watch why the ball wasn’t moving down the stretch. Watch why we lost the game. Watch why there was a lot of 50-50 balls and we weren’t able to get them.”
Despite the discouraging finish to Tuesday’s game, the Milwaukee Bucks are still sitting in the second seed in the Eastern Conference at 46-26, two games clear of the third-placed Cleveland Cavaliers.
The Lakers, on the other hand, move to 40-32 and occupy the ninth seed.
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