The Milwaukee Bucks held off a second-half rally from the Los Angeles Lakers to come away with a 111-104 win on Thursday night in a showdown between the top two teams in the NBA. The game had the intensity of a playoff matchup even in December, and it very well could end up being a finals preview.
Giannis made a statement of “It's me vs. LeBron & AD” and he rose above those other two. His whole body language last night told me he believed he was the best player on the court that featured 2 other Top 5 players, and he backed it up. More @Undisputed, now on FS1 https://t.co/krIxBkmZmM
— Skip Bayless (@RealSkipBayless) December 20, 2019
Stars from both teams showed out on Thursday. Giannis Antetokounmpo led the way for Milwaukee with 34 points, 11 rebounds, seven assists and drained a career high five three-pointers. LeBron James had his seventh triple double of the season for the Lakers with 21 points, 12 rebounds, and 11 assists while Anthony Davis had 36 points and 10 rebounds.
The main difference in the game was the Bucks’ bench outscoring the Lakers bench 34-4 off of George Hill’s 21-point performance.
The Bucks led by six at the end of the first quarter, but they opened the floodgates in the second by capitalizing off Lakers turnovers to go into halftime with a 65-46 lead.
The Lakers opened the second half with another rally in the third quarter, outscoring Milwaukee 35-24. After trailing by as much as 21, the Lakers were now within eight points going into the fourth quarter. The Bucks managed to hold them off however, and sent LA home with their first back-to-back loss of the season.
Milwaukee is now 3-0 over both LA teams. They now go on the road to face the New York Knicks on Sunday.
