Nate Ament has earned legitimate minutes in the Milwaukee Bucks rotation, and coach Taylor Jenkins rewarded him with his first career start in Wednesday's loss to the Los Angeles Lakers.

Ament had a quiet performance, finishing with two points on 1-for-3 shooting, four rebounds, one assist and one block in 22 minutes. It's his third straight game playing over 20 minutes.

Jenkins turned to the 6-foot-10 forward after Milwaukee dropped its injury report, revealing center Myles Turner would miss the game with rest.

The 19-year-old said he wasn't expecting to start in his postgame interview. He added that the coaches said they would switch up the starting lineup and the rookie made the cut.

Milwaukee's coach challenged his rookie to guard Luka Dončić, the league's best scorer. His size and length (6-foot-11.5 wingspan) are the ideal measurements for a wing defender.

Dončić finished with 32 points on 10-for-25 shooting, five rebounds and five assists. Ament didn't lock down the Lakers' star, but those reps against him will be crucial to his defensive growth over his career.

The Bucks' No. 13 pick said he and Jenkins are "in the same boat" trying to guard the stars nightly. He's faced Jayson Tatum, Paul George and Kevin Durant in extended minutes this season.

Ament's potential as a tall wing is promising. Jenkins trusts his rookie to contribute in the rotation and fight through early mistakes during an eight-game losing streak.

Milwaukee has struggled to string together good quarters and win games. The team has scored over 30 points in one quarter in multiple games, but can't carry their performance across a full 48 minutes.

Ament said he learned the margin of error is small since teams and players are so good. It's the little things, like rebounding, that will power the Bucks to a win.

They closed the rebounding gap against Los Angeles, grabbing 40 to its opponents' 48, improving from Tuesday's discouraging outing. The New York Knicks grabbed 59 rebounds to Milwaukee's 32 in their 117-85 win.

Karl-Anthony Towns and Andre Drummond combined for 30 rebounds.

The Bucks were down by double digits for most of the game against the Lakers. They allowed 30-point quarters barring the fourth quarter, when coach JJ Redick sent in his reserves with less than five minutes remaining.

Jenkins threw in his reserves, too, including Gary Trent Jr. The 27-year-old knocked down a few threes to cut down a 20-point deficit to single digits, but there wasn't enough time to mount a comeback.