Lakers win back to back games while Bucks remained unbeaten

(Basketball news) The Los Angeles Lakers for the first time this season won back to back games as they beat the New Orleans Pelicans 120-117 in overtime. For the Lakers, Anthony Davis had 20 points and 16 rebounds, LeBron James had 20 points, 10 rebounds and eight assists and Russell Westbrook had 13 points, nine assists and seven rebounds in another solid game from the bench although he sat on the bench in overtime. Two rookies Austin Reaves and Matt Ryan combined well as Reaves made a slick crosscourt pass to Ryan, and then drilled a fall-away 3 in front of their bench to force OT. For the Pelicans, Zion Williamson scored 27 points and McCollum had 22 points, nine rebounds and eight assists. With this result the Lakers improved their record to 2 wins and 5 losses.

''I'm thrilled for him,'' Lakers coach Darvin Ham said. ''It worked. It was fabulously executed, and Matt had the courage to line it up and knock it down.''

''The pass was clean, and the defense was just far enough away where I could get it off clean,'' Ryan said. ''As a shooter, once you can get your feet down and you see the rim clean enough, that made it a lot easier.''

''We did everything we needed to do to put ourselves in a position to win that game, and we let it slip away,'' Pels coach Willie Green said. ''This is definitely a growth moment for some of our young guys. We didn't deserve to win that game, so credit to the Lakers. … We can't wait until the second half to decide we want to play, and that's what we did.''

The Milwaukee Bucks remained unbeaten this season as they again beat the Detroit Pistons 116-91. For the Bucks, Giannis Antetokounmpo had 32 points and 12 rebounds as he has scored 30 or more points in six consecutive games, while Jrue Holiday scored 25 points as Grayson Allen 18 points. For the Pistons, Saddiq Bey's 22 points as Isaiah Stewart finished with 16 points and 10 rebounds while Bojan Bogdanovic added 14 points and Cade Cunningham 10. With this result Bucks improved their record 7-0.

''I'm happy that the team is winning, but that's like second,'' Antetokounmpo said. ''I'm happy that the team is building good habits. I'm happy that we can be good even if we don't make shots, that it doesn't affect us. We still play hard, we still move the ball. Guys are not talking by themselves, we talk to one another. We are in a very good place.''

''I think some of it's mental,'' Holiday said. ''Knowing that, through a winning streak, you don't always look pretty. I think that sometimes you make mistakes, you still come out with the outcome that you want. I feel like that builds confidence, knowing that you can go into any game and really feel like you can win any game any type of way.''

''It feels like he's playing a lot of different places and playing with just a good rhythm and really an unselfish heart and it's coming back to him,'' Bucks coach Mike Budenholzer said. ''Good things are happening.''
''A guy like him, when he sees a few baskets go in, he starts to get hot,'' Stewart said. ''And for us defensively, we don't want that, so praise to him for getting going.'

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