Former Los Angeles Lakers star Kyle Kuzma helped the Milwaukee Bucks to a victory over his former side.
The Milwaukee Bucks have registered two wins over the LA Lakers over the past week. The Lakers would argue neither game was a fair reflection, with LeBron James missing both of them.
The latest match-up saw Luka Doncic sit out too, with Austin Reaves, Dorian Finney-Smith, Jaxson Hayes and Rui Hachimura all absent.
Milwaukee, without Damian Lillard, showed the ruthless streak that was required and won 117-89, and after the game Kyle Kuzma wanted to prove that a lesson had been learned from his team.
The Milwaukee Bucks were heavily criticized and dismissed as title contenders this week after losing to the Golden State Warriors, who were missing star player Stephen Curry.
Speaking post-Lakers game, Kyle Kuzma was asked about how he felt when he learned the Lakers would be sitting their stars. And he gave a ruthless response.
“We have to kill them,” he responded.
Kuzma scored 20 points with the Bucks surging into a 34-20 first quarter lead, that they never looked like giving up.
The newly acquired Bucks star admitted the team were haunted by the loss to the Warriors and this motivated them to defeat the short-handed Lakers.
He explained: “I think we we let one off the hook at Golden State.
“Obviously, getting ready, you prepare to go take on Steph, and finding out Steph wasn’t playing earlier that afternoon, and we kind of came out there like Steph wasn’t playing and got popped.
“So not trying to repeat history. Coming out, take care of our plays.”
Kyle Kuzma’s 20 points was only the third highest contribution on the Milwaukee Bucks roster.
Giannis Antentokoumpo scored 28, while Gary Trent Jr added 23, and the win was an important one for a Bucks team that have been very inconsistent lately.
Having ranked as high as fourth in the Eastern Conference, Milwaukee have slipped back to fifth behind the Pacers, having gone 5-5 over the last 10.
Their record for the season is 39-30, just ahead of a rapidly rising Detroit Pistons, 39-31, who are making a push to climb as high as fourth.
