Lakers open six-game trip with double-overtime win over Bucks

MILWAUKEE — The key, coach Darvin Ham said pregame, would be for the Lakers to move on after mistakes, to not let the errors pile up, to employ what he, and every NBA coach calls, a “next-play mentality.”

Opening a six-game road trip Tuesday in Milwaukee, forget about the next play. The Lakers, even before the game, looked like a team focused on the next day.

Their biggest star, LeBron James, didn’t play after he experienced soreness in his bothersome left ankle after the Lakers’ win on Sunday. And with another game, this one against Memphis, awaiting them Wednesday night, strategic rest seemed like a factor, too.

But the next play kept coming. And the Lakers eventually started to make some shots.

The Lakers came back from a disastrous start and from down 19 in the fourth quarter to extend the game — the next plays stretching longer into the Wisconsin night.

More than three hours and two overtimes after the game tipped, Austin Reaves hit the shot of the night — an open 3 — to push the Lakers ahead and eventually steal a 128-124 win in double overtime.

Reaves, who had a potential game-winner drop in and out at the end of regulation, finished with his second career triple-double — 29 points, 14 rebounds and 10 assists. Anthony Davis, limping throughout the second half, finished with 34 points and 23 rebounds, and Rui Hachimura (16 and 14 rebounds) and D’Angelo Russell (29 and 12 assists) both had double-doubles.

Giannis Antetokounmpo had 29 points, 21 rebounds and 11 assists, but he missed two crucial free throws in the second overtime to allow the Lakers to seal it at the line. Davis swished a pair, finishing off a 30-for-32 game for the Lakers from the line.

Two free throws from Taurean Prince tied the score at 101-101 — the first tie since 0-0 — but a Russell turnover on potentially the game-winning possession set the stage for the Bucks. Milwaukee couldn’t convert, though, and Reaves got a clean look at the buzzer from deep, but it rattled in and out.

Free throws from Russell with three seconds left in overtime set up a game-saving block at the buzzer from Davis on Damian Lillard‘s shot.