In Milwaukee on Wednesday, the Lakers will be without one of their best players, Jordan Hill. He is out for two weeks with a strained hip. In his place, expect a lot of Tarik Black and Carlos Boozer.
Returning to the lineup is Nick Young, having recovered from a sprained ankle. Two weeks ago, Byron Scott benched Nick Young for what Scott considered Young’s lack of focus. Young then sprained his ankle in practice. He was ready to play Sunday in New York but Scott, for his own reasons, was not ready to play him. It left Young confused and added one more layer of drama to a team that has had its share of player gripes regarding Byron Scott.
Shorthanded as they are, the Lakers face the prospect of losing their eighth consecutive game on the road. Their last road victory was last year (December 30), against the Nuggets. In that game, the Lakers had more offensive rebounds then the Nuggets, more defensive rebounds, more assists, more blocks, fewer fouls, they made more shots and more three pointers. Five players were in double figures. Six players shot over 50%. Kobe Bryant had a triple double. It was a blueprint on how to win on the road. Share the ball, play physical, give effort.
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In Milwaukee the Lakers have to do three things to give themselves a chance to win.
Move the Ball: The Bucks are a sixth seed in the Eastern Conference because of their defense. They are 4th in the league, giving up 97 points a game. When the Lakers lose it is because the ball sticks in one place and player’s stand around. To overcome the Bucks size (John Henson, Giannis Antetokounmpo and Zaza Pachulia are all 6-11) the Lakers have to force the Bucks to be active on defense because the Lakers are sharing the ball. Selfishness is not what the Lakers do well; no one is good enough to play “hero” ball.
Play Hard and Smart: Milwaukee is ranked 7th in assists but 19th in points. They don’t average 100 points a game. Brandon Knight takes 14 shots a game. O.J. Mayo takes 10 shots. And the rest of the team falls somewhere between 6-8 shots per game. The Bucks spread around their offense in a typically Eastern Conference plodding pace. The Lakers play faster and even though they are at a disadvantage because of the talent gap between them and the Bucks who have young stars in Khris Middleton, Giannis Antetokounmpo and Brandon Knight, they can keep the game close if they play harder than the Bucks. And smarter. That means not reaching in and fouling on stupid plays and sending a team that rarely gets to the line on a march to the charity stripe.
Paint Defense/Rebounding: The Bucks don’t take a lot of three point shots. They score in the paint, at the rim and at the mid-range. The Lakers have to be tough on that end of the floor. The Bucks are a terrible rebounding team, near the bottom of the league. For the Lakers to have any shot they are going to have to grab boards and execute their offense when they have the ball. Without Jordan Hill, rebounding is going to have to be a group effort.
**Milwaukee Injuries: Zaza Pachulia-strained calf (out), Larry Sanders-suspension (out), Kendall Marshall- torn ACL (out), Jabari Parker-torn ACL (out), Brandon Knight-quad (questionable), Ersan Ilyasova-groin (questionable).
**Lakers Injuries: Jordan Hill-quad (out), Kobe Bryant-shoulder (out), Julius Randle-leg (out), Steve Nash-back (out).