Doncic Scores 32, Then Holds His Breath as Lakers Beat Bucks 123-112

MILWAUKEE — Luka Doncic scored 32 points, then spent the final minutes of the Los Angeles Lakers' 123-112 win over the Milwaukee Bucks on Wednesday night sitting on the floor holding his right ankle, turning a comfortable road victory into an anxious wait for the best team in the NBA.

The Lakers improved to 11-2, the first team in the league to 11 wins, and stretched their winning streak to seven games. They led by as many as 24 points at Fiserv Forum and controlled the game from the second quarter onward. Yet by the final buzzer, both starting guards had left the game hurt, and head coach JJ Redick was answering questions about injuries instead of celebrating the record.

Doncic sets the tone, then holds his breath

Doncic needed barely a quarter to take over. He scored 16 of his 32 points in the first quarter, hitting five three-pointers on the night and finishing 10-of-25 from the field with five rebounds, five assists and three steals in 32 minutes. It was his ninth straight 30-point game, and he entered the night leading the league in scoring at 39.3 points per game.

The scare came with 4:25 left and the Lakers ahead 114-90. Doncic rose for a step-back three over Kyle Kuzma, drew the foul, and landed on Kuzma's foot. He stayed down on the floor, clutching his right ankle, before getting up to make the free throw. The Lakers called a timeout, subbed him out, and Doncic walked straight toward the locker room.

"I'm good," Doncic said afterward. "Obviously it's painful a little bit, but I'll be fine."

Redick was equally calm. "Luka I think is fine," he said. "Just a light tweak." The early signs backed them up: Doncic woke up on Thursday without pain, according to ESPN's Shams Charania, and will go through his normal treatment before the Lakers' next game.

Reaves goes down first

The worry had started earlier. Austin Reaves, who scored 18 points with five assists and three steals in 25 minutes, hurt his left heel midway through the third quarter on a missed fast-break dunk attempt. He subbed himself out minutes later and did not return.

X-rays taken at the arena came back negative, Redick said, and Reaves was scheduled for further imaging on Thursday. His status is less certain than Doncic's, and that matters: Reaves has been the Lakers' second engine all season, coming off a season-high 43-point night against Detroit on Sunday.

Collin Sexton was also hurt earlier in the game, leaving Redick short-handed on a night when the Lakers were already managing minutes. "I don't think Luka would have gotten back in the game had Collin not busted his head open," Redick explained, defending his decision to have Doncic back on the floor late in a game that was already decided.

The bench answers, and Milwaukee fades

While the guards were going down, the Lakers' bench kept the game from ever getting close. Sandro Mamukelashvili, the former Bucks big man, scored 23 points off the bench on 9-of-15 shooting, including five three-pointers, and Walker Kessler added 10 points and a game-high 11 rebounds.

Los Angeles led 61-50 at halftime and 94-73 after three quarters, and Milwaukee cut the lead to eight only in the final minute, once the deep bench had entered. The Lakers' defence forced the issue all night, collecting 15 steals, and the Bucks' late rally never genuinely threatened the result.

Tyler Herro led Milwaukee with 27 points and seven assists in his return from a knee injury, and Jaime Jaquez Jr. added 25 points and five rebounds. But the Bucks, who made 29 of 33 free throws, could not keep pace with the Lakers' shooting, and the loss dropped them to 1-11, matching the worst start in franchise history, with an eighth straight defeat.

What it means, and what comes next

The standings tell one story and the treatment room tells another. At 11-2, the Lakers own the league's best record, have won seven straight, and completed a 3-0 road trip. Their offence, built around Doncic's scoring and Reaves' secondary playmaking, has carried them through the opening weeks of the season.

But the margin for error is thinner than the record suggests. Doncic and Reaves have already missed games this season, and Wednesday showed how quickly a comfortable night can turn into a medical bulletin. The three-day break before Sunday's trip to the Phoenix Suns now doubles as recovery time, and the Lakers will use every hour of it.

For Milwaukee, the problems run deeper than one loss. A 1-11 start, the worst in franchise history, has turned every home game into a referendum on a roster that looks lost, and Herro's return alone cannot fix a defence that gave up 123 points to a team missing key minutes from both its starting guards.

The Lakers left Fiserv Forum with the win they came for and the scare they did not need. The record says 11-2. The next few days will say how much of that record is built to last.