Lakers Defense Falls Short And Blows a Big Lead in Loss to Atlanta

Not a great way to end the road trip for Los Angeles.

Things looked very promising for the Lakers on Sunday afternoon in Atlanta. They scored 71 points in the first half and jumped out to a 9-point lead heading into halftime without LeBron James in the lineup. 

Then things started to fall apart. The Hawks came out swinging in the third and outscored the Lakers early, though Los Angeles did end up with the edge in the third. The Hawks would then pile on 38 points in the 4th quarter and shut down the Lakers' offense enough to hold onto the win. 

The Lakers certainly did everything they could to hand the game over. They turned the ball over 12 times and Atlanta took advantage in a big way, especially late in the contest. If there was a bright spot, it was Malik Monk. He scored 33 points and sunk 8 of his 14 three-point attempts.

AD defense 🔒
Stanley finish 💪 pic.twitter.com/gpqFpreP1o

— Spectrum SportsNet (@SpectrumSN) January 30, 2022

So overall, the Lakers finish their long road trip 2-4 and go home 3 games under the .500 mark. Certainly less than ideal, but they did it without LeBron James for a large part of it and missed AD and Monk against Charlotte. 

Russell Westbrook ended with 20 points of his own and shot 53.3 percent from the field. Anthony Davis added 27 points of his own, but a lack of defense is ultimately what earned the Lakers a loss. The fact that they missed 11 of their 23 (52.2 percent) free throw attempts only added to the pain of the loss. 

Up next, the Lakers will head back out west to take on the Trail Blazers at Cryto.com Arena on Wednesday.