Hawks Take Care of Business Against LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers
The Hawks were coming off a win against the Toronto Raptors on Sunday and had the fortune of facing a Lakers team that was without arguably its best player on the second night of a back-to-back. The Hawks will take them however they can get them at this point and they were able to take advantage of Anthony Davis being absent and the Lakers having to play their third game in four nights. It resulted in a 138-122 win for the Hawks.
The big news for the Hawks before the game was the availability of De'Andre Hunter and Dejounte Murray. Hunter had not played in a game since December 20th and Murray missed Sunday's win over the Raptors. During his pre-game press conference, Hawks head coach Quin Snyder said that Hunter was going to be on a minutes restriction, but it was good for Hunter and the Hawks that he was able to come back tonight.
This was the healthiest the Hawks had been in quite some time. They had their top eight guys playing in a game for the first time since November. Trae Young, Dejounte Murray, Saddiq Bey, Jalen Johnson, and Clint Capela were the first five on the floor for the Hawks.
With LeBron James healthy, he started the game for the Lakers alongside Austin Reaves, D'Angelo Russell, Taurean Prince, and Jaxson Hayes.
When teams are playing on the second night of a back-to-back, the other team usually tries to push the pace and wear them down early. It was an effective strategy against the Oklahoma City Thunder earlier this year in a similar situation. Early on though, the Lakers did not appear to have that working against them. Atlanta only led by two at a timeout with 4:27, but they were able to close it on a 16-9 run to take a 36-29 lead after the first.
If there was a single-game case you could make for why Anthony Davis should be the defensive player of the year, this was it. The Hawks were able to get to the rim and finish without having to worry about Davis swatting a shot out of midair. As good as James still is at his age, Davis is arguably the more valuable player for this team.
Murray and Bey led the way in the first quarter with eight points each and Bogdanovic had seven points off the bench.
Austin Reaves had nine first-quarter points for the Lakers.
Lakers Forward LeBron James vs Atlanta
The second quarter was much of the same. The Hawks kept the Lakers at arm's length, but Los Angeles did just enough to keep things interesting. It looked like the Hawks might be opening up a big lead near the end of the first half, but back-to-back threes from Prince and Reaves cut the lead to 10. Atlanta led 67-56 at the half and were shooting the ball well.
In the first half, the Hawks shot 57% form the field and 41% from three.
LA shot 51% from the field and 15% from three. The Lakers came into the game as one of the worst three-point shooting teams in the NBA and tonight showed why. Atlanta also doubled up the Lakers on points off turnovers 14-7.
It was a balanced night all around for the Hawks in terms of scoring and that was the case in the first half. Bey and Young each had 13, Murray had 12, and Bogdanovic had 10.
Reaves was the only Laker in double figures with 13.
The second half never saw the game get in doubt for the Hawks. Their offense could not be stopped and Atlanta scored 71 points in the second half and won the game 138-122. The Lakers started to look fatigued for the first time in the game and could not stop the Hawks's offense.
For the game, Atlanta shot 52% from the field and 41% from three. Young led the way with 26 points and 13 assists, but there were seven Hawks players in double-figures. Hunter wound up playing 16:24 and finished with six points, one rebound, and one assist.
The Lakers shot 53% from the field and 36% from three. They did a better job of shooting in the second half, but it was not enough because of how bad they were playing defense. Reaves led the way with 28 points while James had 20 points, nine rebounds, and eight assists.
You can say that the Lakers were without Davis and they were on the second night of a back-to-back, but given how some Hawks games have gone this season, they will take a win no matter who it is against and what the circumstances might be.
Up next for the Hawks will be the start of a back-to-back. They will be at State Farm Arena on Friday to take on Kevin Durant and the Phoenix Suns. Tip-off for that game will be at 7:30 p.m.
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