Los Angeles Lakers lose Andre Drummond to injury in loss to Bucks

The Los Angeles Lakers hit the hardwood with their new center acquisition, Andre Drummond against the Giannis Antetokounmpo led Milwaukee Bucks. Andre Drummond left early but not before the Lakers 3 point shooting!

In the NBA, the teams with superstars and MVPs usually win games. The Milwaukee Bucks have a two-time MVP in Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Los Angeles Lakers have two MVP candidates that are injured.

The Milwaukee Bucks defeated the Los Angeles Lakers 112-97 in Andre Drummond’s first game as a Laker. The story of this post-game should be about celebrating his first shot in the purple and gold.

Instead, his name goes on the list of the walking wounded. More on that in a second.

The good from the Los Angeles Lakers’ loss:

The Los Angeles Lakers survived Milwaukee’s early punch.

The Lake Show started the game down 6-0. Then the alarm clock went off early and they retaliated with a 17-5 run to force a Bucks timeout.

Markieff Morris was firing from long distance!

Ever since Anthony Davis and LeBron James has been out with injury, Markieff Morris’ production had steadily increased along with his confidence. He knocked down three shots from the arc in his first four attempts. It was mentioned during the ESPN broadcast by Mark Jackson that Morris had to be more aggressive looking for his shot and continue after the stars come back. He fell off though finishing with 15 points.

The 3-point shooting in the first quarter! 

The Lakers ran out to an early lead by shooting 66.7 percent (8-12) from downtown. It was sparked by the aforementioned Morris, but Wesley Matthews had a strong start too. He knocked down a couple of shots of his own from distance. To the Lakers fanbase that watched him struggle all year… this is almost like Stephen Curry in comparison. He finished with 9 points.

Montrezl Harrell really needs a raise!

There’s really not much more that Lake Show Life can say about this guy. The Lakers should be investigated for grand larceny for poaching this guy from the Clippers locker room. Analysts keep saying that the Lakers need Kyle Kuzma and Dennis Schroder to step up without the superstars. Well, Montrezl Harrell has done that and more. He’ll do it again next game and continue for the rest of the season.

This is no longer about the numbers in the box scores. Montrezl Harrell is showing heart and character that the rest of the roster needs to fall in line with. This guy is a leader.

Harrell led the Lakers with 19 points.

The bad from the Los Angeles Lakers’ loss:

The Lakers had a bad second and third quarter.

In all of the Lakers’ recent losses, Frank Vogel put the emphasis of his team having at least one bad quarter a game. Against Milwaukee, it was the second quarter as the Lake Show was outscored 30-19.

Then the offense really started sputtering in for most of the third quarter before a late Montrezl Harrell rally (Like what’s new!)  kept it from being a blowout.

Jrue Holiday thoroughly outplayed Dennis Schroder.

Dennis Schroder will have to deal with the rumors that he turned down a four $84 million contract from the Los Angeles Lakers. Is that a true rumor? Who knows? But if he allows opposing point guards to work him over as Jrue Holiday did in this game, Lakers fans are going to wonder if he’s worth the contract the team offered. He was wildly inefficient in this game while Holiday was grooving. Here’s the tale of the tape.

• Jrue Holiday: 28 points (11-16 shooting!), 8 rebounds, 6 assists, 4 steals and a block.
• Dennis Schroder: 17 points (6-18 shooting!), 8 assists, 3 rebounds and a steal. 

The Milwaukee Bucks offensive flow was easy like Sunday morning while the Lakers offense stalled like 1954 Dodge DeSoto. Coincidence?

Andre Drummond left the game with a right foot problem.

It hurts just writing this. Andre Drummond left early in the third quarter with might be a toenail issue (Ouch!).

Hopefully, this does not keep Andre Drummond out long, but those types of injuries can be brutal. Hopefully, it’s not turf toe and he can return to the lineup soon.

Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Alex Caruso and Talen Horton-Tucker.

It’s one thing when Jrue Holiday outscores this trio by 3-1 because he’s one of the best two-way guards in the NBA. But when Donte Divencenzo nearly outscores them. You get the point.

The 3-point shooting for the rest of the game!

The Lakers started the game shooting 8-12 from behind the arc. They finished 2-24 the rest of the way.

The story from the Los Angeles Lakers’ loss:

Andre Drummond will make a big difference when he gets his rhythm.

These are the first plays of impact that Andre Drummond had in the game for the Los Angeles Lakers.

• He blocked Donte Divencenzo’s dunk with excellent rotation after initial rim protection.
• Then he shot a floater in the lane.
• Finally, he drew an offensive foul on Giannis Antetokounmpo.  

Why should Lakers Nation be excited? It was all done in the first three minutes of the game. Before his injury, Drummond finished with 4 points and 2 rebounds. To the Lakers fans that actually thought he was going to have a 20-20 stat line…GET REAL!

Putting the injury aside, it’s going to take time to get Andre Drummond acclimated to the speed and pace of the NBA game. Is he in shape? Yes. Will he be a factor around playoff time? Absolutely. But no matter how much training a player has with drills and shooting. Nothing compares to playing an NBA game with the best players on the planet. Period.

Giannis Antetokounmpo is so dominant! 

There is a reason why this guy is a two-time MVP. If he keeps up this stretch of great play he’s going to get his third.

This is not about Andre Drummond’s defense here’ This is about the Greek Freak’s skillset that is growing by the day. Giannis avoided early foul trouble to finish with 25 points,10 rebounds, 4 assists and 3 blocks. Wow.

For some reason, the Lakers coaching staff thought it was a good idea to defend Giannis straight up instead of building that wall and forcing him to shoot. If you want to know what happens when teams don’t follow that proven plan to stop the two-time MVP, well watch the video again. Film don’t lie.