For Giannis and Bucks, a challenging week is only beginning

MILWAUKEE — Inside the Milwaukee Bucks locker room following Monday’s 120-116 loss to the Dallas Mavericks, players were not hanging their heads.

They don’t have time to.

Their 18-game win streak was snapped two wins shy of the franchise record of 20 set during the 1970-71 championship season. Now Milwaukee’s focus shifts to Thursday, when the Eastern Conference leaders will welcome the West-leading Los Angeles Lakers to town.

“Yeah, obviously. It’s gonna be a good game, gonna be a test for us,” said Giannis Antetokounmpo, who scored a game-high 48 points to go with 14 rebounds and four assists Monday against the Mavericks. “The Lakers are one of the best teams in the league.

“We’ve gotta bring it, gotta play good basketball, gotta move the ball, but obviously as a team, we don’t wanna lose two in a row,” he added. “We’ve just gotta go out there and try to get a win.”

The Bucks have lost consecutive games in the regular season just once since Mike Budenholzer took over as head coach entering the 2018-19 season. To avoid doing so a second time will mean beating a team led by LeBron James and Anthony Davis.

“They’ve got two of the top-five players in the world, so …” Antetokounmpo said.

The Lakers have a top-five offense, but they’re average at taking care of the ball, ranking 17th in turnover percentage entering Tuesday’s road game against the Indiana Pacers. Only the Bucks and Mavericks shoot better, but the Lakers aren’t nearly as potent from 3. They’re more about interior offense.

That actually fits the Bucks’ strengths defensively. The Bucks allow 12.9 field goals made per game inside the restricted area and only 54.5% in that zone, both league-wide lows.

However, for the Bucks to beat the Lakers will require more than the one-man show that was on display Monday. Antetokounmpo is capable of stuffing the stat sheet, as he showed in the loss. But he got little help. Against Dallas, he scored or assisted on 59 of Milwaukee’s 82 points (72%) when he was on the floor, per ESPN Stats & Information research. He scored 48 points, and the rest of the starters scored 23.
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