Trae Young and Atlanta Overcome Monster Games From LeBron James and Anthony Davis to Defeat The Lakers

Atlanta has now won six games in a row and will face the Nuggets on Sunday

Dec 6, 2024; Atlanta, Georgia, USA; Atlanta Hawks forward De'Andre Hunter (12) is guarded by Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James (23) in the fourth quarter at State Farm Arena. Mandatory Credit: Brett Davis-Imagn Images / Brett Davis-Imagn Images

There were various different points of tonight's game where it looked like the Atlanta Hawks winning streak was going to come to an end. The Lakers had been struggling mightliy coming into tonight's game, but they got phenomenal performances from LeBron James and Anthony Davis and it looked like those two did just enough to beat the Hawks.

But the Hawks kept punching back and overcame all of that.

One of the best NBA games of the entire season took place at State Farm Arena tonight. The Hawks and the Lakers played a tightly contested game that went to overtime and it saw Atlanta extend their winning streak to six games, despite LeBron James having his best game of the season with a triple double (39 points, 11 assists, and 10 rebounds) and Anthony Davis scoring 38 points to go along with 10 rebounds and eight assists. Trae Young had 31 points and 20 assists, including the game-winning shot, and De'Andre Hunter (26) and Bogdan Bogdanovic combined for 46 points in an incredible Hawks win

ICE TRAE YOUNG IS HIS NAME pic.twitter.com/E97YQ8QcEo

— Atlanta HaWWWWWWks (@ATLHawks) December 7, 2024

Atlanta has been playing really good defense over the course of their winnning streak, but tonight was not a strong defensive game. The Lakers had been struggling on that end of the floor and were without Austin Reaves tonight, but they proceeded to shoot 52% from the field and 46% from three. The thing is though, most of their scoring was done through James and Davis, who were incredible. The Lakers bench did them no favors and Atlanta's bench outscored their 65-17. The Lakers supporting cast has taken a lot of criticisim this season and they did not do anything to stop the criticism tonight.

The night that Young had will get the attention (as it should), but the Hawks are getting a version of De'Andre Hunter that they never have before. Hunter has been incredible coming off the bench and that continued tonight, in a game in which he and LeBron James were going back and forth. Hunter went on to score 26 points off the bench, shooting 9-15 from the floor and 5-7 from three. Hunter has been incredible for the Hawks this season and should be gettin more recognition from around the league for his performance.

This was also a great night for Bogdan Bogdanovic, who scored 20 points and hit plenty of timely threes. Bogdanovic finished 4-9 from three and 7-13 from the field and teamed up with De'Andre Hunter to lead the Hawks bench.

The Hawks are playing phenomenal basketball and the NBA is starting to take notice. While the Lakers are struggling right now, getting a win over them when you have incredible games from two of the best players on the planet is something you can be proud of. This team has a lot of young pieces and still has a lot of things to figure out, but they are finding ways to complement each other and it has resulted in great team basketball and a six-game winning streak.

Up next for the Hawks is a game against the Denver Nuggest and three-time MVP Nikola Jokic. Tip-off for that game is set for 6:00 p.m. on Sunday night at State Farm Arena.

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LeBron James, Trae Young, and End of Hawks-Lakers Game Has NBA World Buzzing