NetRtg: +9.8 (1)
The Lakers let one get away (they led by 14 points in the fourth quarter) against the Warriors on Monday. But they held on (after almost losing an 11-point, fourth-quarter lead) in Milwaukee on Thursday, holding the league’s No. 1 offense to one of its least efficient games of the season. The Bucks actually outscored the Lakers, 54-18, in the restricted area, but L.A. was a +30 from beyond the arc, where Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and LeBron James combined to shoot 13-for-20.
Caldwell-Pope hit some of the biggest, game-in-the-balance shots in the win, including a corner 3 that gave the Lakers a five-point lead with 2:42 left. He’s getting fewer minutes (23.3 per game) than he did last season (25.5), but he’s made the most of them. Though he’s playing less than half the game, he’s tied fourth in the league in cumulative plus-minus, with the Lakers having outscored their opponents by 146 points with him on the floor. The 22.7 points per 100 possessions that they’ve outscored their opponents by with him on the floor is the highest on-court mark among 293 players who’ve averaged at least 15 minutes per game. KCP’s effective field goal percentage of 71.6% ranks third among 223 players with at least 75 field goal attempts.