LOS ANGELES — For three quarters, the Lakers looked to Luka Doncic to get them back to winning. Teammate LeBron James was having a quiet night, one day after sitting out because of sciatica management and arthritis in his foot, and the rest of the team was equally silent.
Then the fourth quarter began. James started firing, Dalton Knecht got involved and their defense kicked in, but it wasn’t enough to overcome the Milwaukee Bucks, 105-101, on Friday night at Crypto.com Arena.
It was the first clutch loss and first single-digit defeat of the season for the Lakers (23-13).
Afterward, Doncic was still shouldering the load.
“Probably I could have executed better, for sure,” Doncic said. “Obviously my shot didn’t go well today. You know, I could get better shots. So, wish I could have executed better than that.”
Doncic had 24 points despite a rough shooting night from 2-point range to go with nine rebounds and nine assists before fouling out late. James scored 13 of his team-high 26 points in the fourth quarter and added nine rebounds and 10 assists, but Giannis Antetokounmpo blocked his shot then stole the ball from him on consecutive possessions in the final minute.
Kevin Porter Jr. scored 22 points for Milwaukee (17-21), and he hit two of three free throws to break a tie with 16.2 seconds left after Antetokounmpo blocked a driving layup attempt by James with 39 seconds left.
Antetokounmpo then knocked the ball out of James’ hands from behind with two seconds left, and Porter hit two more free throws to hand the Lakers their sixth loss in 10 games.
“We take the lead to go up four and then we come up empty on a number of possessions,” Coach JJ Redick said. “We were getting good looks; didn’t score. And then we put them on the free-throw (line).”
The Lakers were playing their fourth game this week, and the fatigue showed down the stretch.
Doncic’s foul on Porter’s late 3-point attempt and James’ turnover undid the good the Lakers saw in the final quarter.
“I turned the ball over,” James said. “You definitely can’t do that at that point and time. So, Giannis, he made a great play by getting his arm and tipping it from behind, but I can’t turn the ball over – obviously.”
The Lakers were down by eight heading into the fourth but turned it around behind the tandem of Doncic and James.
They made a push in the fourth, starting the final period on a 17-4 run. They got within 88-84 on baskets by James and Knecht, whose running layup turned the game into a two-point contest with 8:27 left.
James tied the score at 90-all on a 14-foot fadeaway jumper and then drove to the basket to give the Lakers the lead at the 6:02 mark. Doncic added a 7-foot floater for a 94-90 lead.
But the Bucks weren’t going to let the Lakers off that easily and tied the score at 94-94. James followed by making both free throws to regain a 96-94 lead.
Milwaukee couldn’t get a shot off on its next possession and the Lakers responded with another basket by James.
“I thought the first half we kind of got the road trip out of us,” James said. “The second half we played more Laker basketball. Listen, I’d love to go undefeated in clutch games for a season, but you know, you can’t get too high, can’t get too low on stats like that. You just play the game.”
Jake LaRavia added 13 points for the Lakers, who needed center Deandre Ayton to bounce back from his lackluster performance in his last game (nine points, six rebounds, one blocked shot) to help slow Antetokounmpo, who finished with 21 points.
“It all starts with him and that starts with him in transition,” Redick said of the Bucks’ superstar.
Antetokounmpo averages 5.4 transition points per game but he’s best in the paint, where he is averaging 20.4. Keeping him away from the basket proved difficult for not only Ayton but the Lakers as a whole no matter where the 6-foot-11 forward lined up.
Ayton finished with four points and five rebounds in 24 minutes.
The Bucks pulled away in the first half with a 12-6 run capped by a putback dunk by Antetokounmpo with 1:13 left to take a 61-52 lead into intermission. The Bucks led by as many as 12 in the opening half.
While Antetokounmpo did his part with 12 points in the early going, it was Porter who made the biggest impact with 12 points, four rebounds and five assists in 18 minutes.
The Bucks – who hadn’t beaten a team with a winning record since Dec. 11 – went cold to start the second half.
Marcus Smart and LaRavia buried back-to-back 3-pointers to pull the Lakers to within 61-58 at the 10:01 mark of the third quarter, but the comeback was short-lived as Antetokounmpo got going.
With Antetokounmpo on the bench, the Lakers cut the lead to 82-74. After Gary Trent Jr. made it an 11-point lead (85-74) on a 3-pointer with 1:08 left in the third quarter, Doncic hit his fourth 3-pointer to return the margin to eight with 19 seconds remaining.
Porter made two free throws to give the Bucks an 86-77 lead heading into the fourth quarter.
Doncic shot 4 for 6 from 3-point range but 8 for 25 from the field overall and missed four of his eight free throws in his lowest-scoring outing since Christmas.
INJURY UPDATES
Lakers starters Austin Reaves and Rui Hachimura remain sidelined by injury, but Redick said Hachimura (calf) might return early next week from his six-game absence.