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Home > ajcsportstalk > Archives > 2006 > December > 09 > Entry
DEL.ICIO.USJohnson scores 30 in loss
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Los Angeles — There would be no miraculous comeback this time.
Joe Johnson kept the Hawks close until late in the game with his ninth 30-point game of the season. But it wasn’t nearly enough to offset a blazing hot shooting night for the Los Angeles Lakers, who ran away from the Hawks late in a 106-95 win Friday night before a sellout Staples Center crowd of 18,997.
The Lakers shot 56 percent from the floor, the best mark of the season for a Hawks opponent, and got career scoring nights out of the likes of Luke Walton, Maurice Evans and rookie point guard Jordan Farmar.
The Hawks (8-10) are now 2-2 on their current five-game Western Conference road trip with Sunday’s game at Sacramento all that’s left of this exhausting, 10-day journey.
They have a chance to finish off a forray west with a winning record for the first time since the 1997-98 season, when they did it twice. A 17-point fourth quarter rally in Denver Wednesday night made it possible. A win Friday night would have guaranteed.
And it seemed possible with the Lakers (13-6) playing without superstar shooting guard Kobe Bryant, who sat out the game with a sore right ankle.
While that would normally be great news for an opposing team, that wasn’t the case Friday night. Several of the Lakers’ role players tend to play better when Bryant isn’t the lineup. Luke Walton was magnificent for the home team, scoring both inside and out thanks to some matchup issues in the Lakers’ triangle offense that worked in his favor.
Walton finished the game with a career-high 25 points, six assists and four rebounds, filling in admirably for Bryant, who leads the Lakers with 25.9 points per game.
Walton scored 11 points during the decisive third quarter run that helped the Lakers take total control of the game, they turned a 47-46 halftime deficit into a 76-69 lead to star the final 12 minutes.
How the Hawks stayed as close as they much of the game was a mystery in itself. The Lakers shot 59 percent (30-for-51) from the floor through the first three quarters and had a noticeable size advantage inside, where 7-foot, 270-pound Brunswick native Kwame Brown did most of his work (13 points, seven rebounds, seven assists).
Lakers forward Lamar Odom had an off shooting night, but made up for it with a game-high 15 rebounds and seven assists. Evans, who started in Bryant’s absence, added a career-high 22 points on 8-for-14 shooting.
Farmar notched his career-high 15 points off the bench and Josh Smith had his second straight double double (17 points and 11 rebounds) and his seventh of the season. But with just he, Johnson (30), Zaza Pachulia (12) and Tyronn Lue (11) scoring in double figures, the Hawks weren’t quite able to match the Lakers’ scoring balance.
The Hawks did have Speedy Claxton back in the starting lineup after he missed two straight games with soreness in his left knee. Marvin Williams also made his season-debut, finishing with nine points and two rebounds, after missing the past six weeks recovering from a fractured finger on his non-shooting hand.
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