Pregame report: Crafty pick-and-roll play working for Bucks

LOS ANGELES - Los Angeles Lakers coach Luke Walton praised Giannis Antetokounmpo before his team faced the Milwaukee Bucks on Friday night at the Staples Center.

And Walton said the Bucks are using a unique pick-and-roll action that is giving opponents problems.

"Ultimately most teams would prefer to keep him (Antetokounmpo) shooting jump shots," Walton said. "That's probably your best chance of getting him to miss.

"But it's a lot easier said than done. They're running Dellavedova into 1-3 pick-and-rolls. Point guards aren't used to defending pick-and-rolls from that position, with their guy setting it. They do some crafty things as far as getting him going downhill. And then if you mess up, if you get hit on the screen at all, he's turning the corner.

"You don't have time to stay underneath on him. And sometimes when you do, he just turns and posts you up anyway. He's a smart, aggressive, creative player."

Bucks coach Jason Kidd agreed that particular pick-and-roll action has helped his team.

"Is Delly the 3?" Kidd said with a grin. "Delly is going to do whatever it takes to help the team. With him being able to set screens for Giannis or whoever we run the pick-and-roll with, it puts the guard in a difficult situation. Most point guards don't guard pick-and-rolls. It has helped Giannis but it has helped the team, and he (Dellavedova) has benefited from the screens by getting the shots, too, so it has been good."

If Dellavedova screens and flares out beyond the three-point arc, Antetokounmpo is finding him. The Greek Freak has gained in confidence as a playmaker as well as a finisher.

"The tape you watch, you sit there and have 20-minute debates about how to guard him," Walton said. "You don't come up with a lot of good answers.

"They're really good at picking out mismatches and making you commit more players to him than you want. His ability to really eat up space and finish with finesse is pretty remarkable for his size.

"In my opinion, he's always had a nice feel for the game as far as playmaking and passing. He was struggling (at first) when they had him running the point. But it's like anything else, the more comfortable he gets, the better it will be. Now that he's making those passes, it makes him a lot more difficult to deal with."

Walton said Jordan Clarkson would remain in the starting lineup at point guard against the Bucks with D'Angelo Russell coming off the bench. The Lakers coach stressed that Russell needs to embrace this role and see how he can improve.

"I think he ultimately will respond well to it," Walton said. "I think it's important for all of our guys to respond well to adversity and being put in difficult situations. The only way to get better at stuff like that is to go through it, so I would expect him to find his way through it.

"I told him when we took him out (of the starting lineup) it wasn't because of his play. He was having a great couple weeks coming out of all-star (break). We were 1-7 and we wanted to try some other things. We're in a position where we're not in the playoffs, so we might as well try different lineups and gather information and take it with us into the off-season."