RealGM

Los Angeles Lakers Starters


Milwaukee Bucks Starters


Venue: BMO Harris Bradley Center- Milwaukee, WI


Key Match Up: Dwight Howard versus Larry Sanders




Lakers-Bucks Preview

How the Los Angeles Lakers' latest injury affects their chase for the Western Conference's final playoff spot remains to be seen, but they started off the final stretch without their emotional leader on the right foot.

The Milwaukee Bucks, meanwhile, are all but assured a playoff spot, but they're mired in a four-game losing streak and one of their top scorers is unhappy.

Los Angeles continues a four-game road trip on Thursday night against Milwaukee - one of seven teams in postseason contention it will play over its final 10 contests.

All of those games will come without the services of Metta World Peace. He is slated for surgery Thursday after he suffered a torn meniscus in his left knee in Monday's loss to Golden State and is expected to miss at least six weeks. That timetable likely keeps him out until the second round of the playoffs, if the Lakers (37-35), who own a one-game edge over Utah for the eighth spot in the West, even qualify and advance that far.

Los Angeles, which just got Pau Gasol back in the mix after he was sidelined for 5 1/2 weeks with a torn plantar fascia, struggled mightily defensively without World Peace on Wednesday against Minnesota, but held on for a 120-117 win to snap a three-game skid.

With Bryant not at his normal shooting guard spot, Jodie Meeks slid in there for his third start of the season but was just 2 of 7 for five points in 35 minutes.

Milwaukee (34-36) would seem to be nearly guaranteed a playoff spot with a 6 1/2-game lead over Philadelphia for eighth place in the East with 12 games to play. But the Bucks' hopes of catching seventh-place Boston, whom they trail by 2 1/2 games, to avoid a first-round series with Miami appear to be slipping away. Wednesday's 100-92 loss at Philadelphia was the team's fourth in a row and seventh in nine games, and more significantly, may have put a serious dent in the group's chemistry.

Brandon Jennings, the team's leader in assists with a personal-best 6.8 per game and second-leading scorer at 17.7 per game, was benched for the entire fourth quarter and finished scoreless for the first time in his career.

The Bucks have dropped 17 of 22 in the series but took a 100-89 victory in the last meeting in Milwaukee on Jan. 28, 2012. Los Angeles claimed a 104-88 home win on Jan. 15, with Bryant and Dwight Howard each scoring 31 while the Bucks were held to 35.8 percent shooting.


#COUNTONKOBE #LAST10GAMES #PLAYOFFSPUSH

back to back?

unpossible!

WOO! this ones on espn I get to see this one! they better win now...

I expect another thrill-packed, lead-losing thrillfest and last minute win.
Hoping MDA starts Clark and gets him back in the groove - I think the young'uns confidence is hurting.

So - if "Pau can't play with Dwight", how did he win 2 championships with Bynum?

go lakers

Pau will get eaten alive by Sanders and anybody but Kobe on Reddick please.

oh boy a back to back.

hermes wrote:go lakers

Mr. Consistency!!!

Fwiw I don't see how we win tonight. Monta and Young $$$ are going to run circles around Nash and Blake. If they have decent games we're dead meat. Back to backs have been our Achilles heal all year and unfortunately this one is about as must win as they're going to come for us.

We cannot lose this damn game! Even if we win this game we have another tough little matchup in Sacramento on Sat.

Time to suck it up and somehow get the job done!!! The Mavs and Jazz are a frog's whisker behind us and it would be a downright shame to miss out on the playoffs because we couldn't hold off those two teams!

Prediction: if we win tonigh it will be because Kobe has a great game!

Michael Lucky wrote:oh boy a back to back.

My sentiments exactly. I'm not feeling too good about our chances tonight.

SlavaMedvedenko wrote:Pau will get eaten alive by Sanders and anybody but Kobe on Reddick please.

Fortunately,MWP is out so Kobe will take care of the SF's.....Blake and Meeks will guard Redick and Monta probably

Unless Kobe takes responsability and asks to guard Ellis himself

Oh boy a back to back. Look for us to come out sluggish and probably not motivated. Probably will be outscored in the 1st and will have to play catch up the whole entire game. Then they'll wake up in the 4th quarter with 2 min. left and it will be too late....

Go Lakers.

BTW Kobe Bryant is 34 points away from surpassing Wilt Chamberlin so chucking Kobe might happen. =/

Their venue building looks like some common corner office building.

Im going to take a page out of ace's book and write me a letter

Yo kobe bryant

lock in and play some effin defense, the bucks sole strength is their perimeter scoring hence why we need you defensively on this one.

Sincerely "kobehater"

Lakers-Texas wrote:BTW Kobe Bryant is 34 points away from surpassing Wilt Chamberlin so chucking Kobe might happen. =/

He will pass Wilt and your precious MJ, make no mistake about it. Then all the MJ fanatics and whiners are going to cry about how it doesn't mean anything.

ROballer wrote:

SlavaMedvedenko wrote:Pau will get eaten alive by Sanders and anybody but Kobe on Reddick please.

Fortunately,MWP is out so Kobe will take care of the SF's.....Blake and Meeks will guard Redick and Monta probably

Unless Kobe takes responsability and asks to guard Ellis himself

Meeks or Clark on Ellis most likely. No need to waste Kobe's legs. I don't see Lebron, KD, or any other star guarding Ellis for the whole game. Makes no sense.

JohnVancouver wrote:I expect another thrill-packed, lead-losing thrillfest and last minute win.
Hoping MDA starts Clark and gets him back in the groove - I think the young'uns confidence is hurting.

So - if "Pau can't play with Dwight", how did he win 2 championships with Bynum?

Rarely did we see Pau and Bynum out there together...key moments of the game were Pau + Odom

GeneralNash wrote:

Lakers-Texas wrote:BTW Kobe Bryant is 34 points away from surpassing Wilt Chamberlin so chucking Kobe might happen. =/

He will pass Wilt and your precious MJ, make no mistake about it. Then all the MJ fanatics and whiners are going to cry about how it doesn't mean anything.

Not an MJ fanatic...but it doesn't mean anything. Well, it means Kobe played more season...which is good.

Let's go Lakers!

Bucks will take it tonight. Don't see the Lake show making a great appearance