LOS ANGELES -- The Lakers raced out in front in the first half and it proved too much for the Hawks, who fell 130-114 Friday night.
Here are five observations:
1. The Hawks struggled to get stops throughout the night as the Lakers got wherever they wanted. The Lakers knocked down 55% of their shots from the floor before both teams cleared their benches in the final two minutes of the game.
Eighteen-time NBA All-Star LeBron James may not have dropped 47 points on the Hawks this time, but he continued to burn them. He attacked the paint, taking advantage of the smaller defenders down low. He scored 25 points and had seven rebounds as he helped to push the ball ahead to his teammates in transition.
“They just came out with a bigger sense of urgency than we did, I feel like in that first quarter,” the Hawks’ John Collins said. “I feel like that helped them kickstart their game where, obviously, we had to take a little more time to get in the groove. They were making shots tonight as well from outside. Tough night. We got to do better from the start and give ourselves a better chance to win.”
James ended the night with 10 assists, which resulted in 23 of the Lakers’ points. He along with guard Russell Westbrook, who had nine assists for 23 points, carved the Hawks up.
Westbrook found his teammates for five 3s on his drive and dishes, while James found his teammates at the basket seven times.
The Lakers made 51 of their 93 field goals, while knocking down 16 of their 35 3-point attempts.
2. The Hawks needed to limit the Lakers on the fast break after giving up 23 transition points to them one week ago at State Farm Arena. But the Hawks seemed ill-prepared and allowed the Lakers to blow by them and get out front.
In the first half alone, the Hawks allowed the Lakers to score 22 fast-break points as the Hawks struggled to find the bottom of the net.
The Lakers just disrupted the Hawks’ flow and flushed them outside where the team has struggled this season. They then boxed them out effectively, committing at least three players at a time to the Hawks’ man down low to keep Atlanta off the glass. Once they had control of the ball, the Lakers raced down court before the Hawks’ defense could get set.
On average, the Hawks have allowed 14.2 fast-break points per game. They seemed to have found a better formula on Wednesday when they gave up just 11 points in transition to the fast-paced Kings.
3. After trailing by as many as 26 points during the second quarter and falling behind 70-59 at halftime, the Hawks fought back to pull the game within 10. Hawks guard Trae Young warmed up after a cool first quarter. The Hawks guard scored 17 of his 32 points in the third quarter after helping the team get off to a 15-8 run to begin the frame.
Young opened the quarter by finding Dejounte Murray at the top of the key before Murray returned the favor one minute later. Young then scored five straight points, which forced the Lakers to take a timeout.
Young’s 17 points in the third quarter tied his season high (for the fourth time) for points scored in a period and along with two assists and five points created from assists accounted for 66.7% of the team’s points in the quarter.
4. Young’s boost in the third was a welcome sight considering the team struggled to get shots to fall in the second quarter. The Lakers put plenty of pressure on the Hawks in the second quarter holding them to 2-of-12 shooting from the floor with 7:32 remaining in the first half.
The Lakers outscored them 14-4 in the first three-and-a-half minutes of the second to extend their lead to 51-32. The Lakers ended up outscoring the Hawks 33-21 with Young finding some rhythm toward the end of the first half to push the team above 20 points.
“I thought we had open looks,” Hawks coach Nate McMillan said. “I thought they were aggressive defensively, getting into our guards with the pressure. And we didn’t have a lot of ball movement. We were trying to attack the pressure pretty much one-on-one. I think we had only eight assists in that first half. And we needed to set screens to I think release some of that pressure. But their guards did a good job, (Patrick) Beverly, (Dennis) Schroeder, Westbrook all those guys did a good job of getting into the ball and pressuring and disrupting our rhythm.”
5. The Hawks have continued to miss the presence of center Clint Capela, with the Lakers continuing to badger them on the boards. Capela has missed nine of the last ten games with a right calf strain.
The Hawks had hoped for Capela to make a return to the court at some point on this West Coast road trip.
His absence proved notable on Friday as the Lakers outrebounded the Hawks 51-39 due to their ability to put a few bodies on the Hawks’ bigs.
“I mean, a lot of teams are taking advantage of us not having Clint and getting into the lane and getting layups and just attacking the glass even on shots, they’re going and attacking and getting offensive rebounds,” Young said.
“So teams are definitely exposing us as far as not having a big and as far as ‘CC’ (Capela) in there. John is battling and ‘O’ (Onyeka Onkongwu) is battling but I mean, ‘O’ can’t do it for the full 48 and John is, I mean, really a four playing in a five position with ‘CC’ out. So that is probably one of the main reasons why it’s tough for us rebounding and teams are attacking us in the paint for that reason.”
Stat to know
1,750 -- With his fifth assist, Dejounte Murray has dished out 1,750 in his career.
Quotable
“I don’t know if there was a pressure. I think we were still in that funk of ... trying to get back and playing this game where we don’t get a good shot, we have to get back and we’re not getting the stops. Just our flow and rhythm were just off. " -- John Collins on what kind of pressure the Lakers put on the Hawks.
Up next
The Hawks conclude the West Coast trip on Sunday when they play the Clippers at Crypto.com Arena.
About the Author
