The Los Angeles Lakers are in search of a sixth straight win tonight, when they host the Milwaukee Bucks at Staples Center. They will face a Bucks team without leading scorer Brandon Jennings, who underwent surgery Monday to repair a fracture of the fifth metatarsal of his left foot. Jennings had played every game this season prior to Monday's loss in Portland, and was averaging 17.9 points, 5.5 assists, and 4.0 rebounds on the season. Former Clipper Keyon Dooling started at point guard Monday night in Jennings' place, and is expected to do so again tonight.
The Lakers have won five straight games, finishing their road trip 6-1. They have beaten the Bucks six straight times. Kobe Bryant has scored 20 or more points in 14 of his last 15 games against the Bucks, a stretch during which the Lakers have gone 13-2 against Milwaukee. Kobe has scored 30 points in seven of those 15 games. Bryant scored 20 points on Sunday in Toronto, giving him 26,514 points in his career. He surpassed Hakeem Olajuwon for the third-most points for one team in NBA history, and now trails only Karl Malone (36,374 points for Utah) and Michael Jordan (29,277 points for Chicago). Kobe is third in the league in scoring this season, averaging 25.9 points per game.
Here are tonight's probable starting lineups:
Bucks
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Point Guard: Keyon Dooling
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Shooting Guard: John Salmons
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Small Forward: Chris Douglas-Roberts
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Power Forward: Ersan Ilyasova
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Center: Andrew Bogut
A pair of Bucks have concussion-like symptoms. Carlos Delfino is out for tonight's game, while Corey Maggette is listed as day-to-day.
Lakers
- Point Guard: Derek Fisher
- Shooting Guard: Kobe Bryant
- Small Forward: Ron Artest
- Power Forward: Lamar Odom
- Center: Pau Gasol
The Lakers have used the same starting lineup for all 28 games so far this season. That figures to change at some point soon, whenever Bynum is deemed ready to return to the starting five.
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