The Los Angeles Lakers have responded to their embarrassing loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder on Wednesday with dominant performances in back-to-back games. The Lakers blew out the Milwaukee Bucks 119-95 at Fiserv Forum on Saturday, and Deandre Ayton stated postgame that the loss to the Thunder woke up the team.
“That OKC game woke us up,” Ayton said. “Especially with the energy. Me myself just coming in with different spirits and understanding, like forget the back-to-back. This is Laker basketball. We’re trying to win a game. Finish the road trip strong.”
The Lakers had fallen to 1-2 on this road trip when they lost 121-92 to the Thunder. They had been embarrassed by a short-handed Atlanta Hawks team at the beginning of the trip and were seemingly undoing all of their good work from the start of the campaign.
Lakers head coach JJ Redick stated his team needed a course correction after the loss to the Thunder. To Redick and his team’s credit, they have gotten back on track.
The Lakers led by as many as 22 points in their 118-104 win over the New Orleans Pelicans on Friday. You might have dismissed that performance as it was against a bottom-feeder in the West, but they weren’t going up against cannon fodder on Saturday.
The Bucks were 8-5 coming into this game and were down by 31 points at halftime at home. They did find some success in the third quarter, but it was all Lakers the rest of the night.
Ayton has played his part in these comprehensive wins. The 27-year-old had 20 points (10-11 FG), 16 rebounds, two assists, two steals, and one block against the Pelicans.
Austin Reaves sang Ayton’s praises after the game and revealed the big man had acknowledged he didn’t do his job against the Thunder. He had just six points (3-5 FG), five rebounds, one assist, and one steal in that loss, and wanted to right the wrongs. He has done just that since.
Ayton put up 20 points (9-13 FG), 10 rebounds, two steals, and one block against the Bucks. It’s the second time this season that he has had back-to-back 20-point, 10-rebound games.
The Lakers signed Ayton to a two-year, $16.6 million deal in the summer, and he’s certainly proving to be value for money. He’s having a lot of fun playing for his new team, too.
Ayton was later asked in his media session what had made him the happiest about his time with the Lakers, and he had a hilarious response.
“I never said I was happy,” Ayton stated. “I’m f***ing excited.”
Some classic misdirection right there. Time will tell if this was just the honeymoon period with Ayton or a sign of things to come. The Lakers certainly would be hoping it is the latter.
With this win, the Lakers improved to 10-4 on the season and remain fourth in the West. They will take on the Utah Jazz next at Crypto.com Arena on Tuesday at 10:30 PM ET.
