For all the Los Angeles Lakers residual marquee value, they do not look quite right in the cold, hard light of the standings. The one-time royals arrived at Philips Monday the No. 12 team in the West. Their star was in partial eclipse. Their support cast a rather formless collection.
When that bunch met a Hawks team that discovered a pace and rhythm that it will want to bottle for the long winter and spring to come, the result spoke at times of a mismatch.
Before the usual lively crowd that Hollywood’s team brings with it, the Hawks beat L.A. 114-100. They saved their highest-scoring game of the young season for the one night the Lakers would came to town.
“When we play like that, we’re a tough team to beat,” guard Jeff Teague said. He had the drive-and-dish going as well as ever, finishing with 10 assists and 17 points.
“Great intensity, great aggressiveness,” coach Mike Budenholzer said. “I think we played off of our defense. We moved the ball well. We found the open guy. That’s how we want to play.”
The Hawks seized control of the night with a third quarter surge, outscoring the Lakers 35-19. They overwhelmed them with energy and effort. Eleven three-pointers in the game didn’t hurt either.
In L.A., the Lakers won the first meeting of the season in early November by two with a markedly different starting lineup than Monday’s. Four different bodies swathed in purple ambled onto the Philips floor, the one with “Bryant” stitched across his shoulders being the most noted.
In Kobe Bryant’s fifth game back from the ruptured Achilles he suffered in April, he was benign. Got all his six first-half points in one two-minute spurt. Even missed a freebie to begin the second half, clanging a technical foul free throw.
DeMarre Carroll hectored Bryant from one end of the floor to the other, the Hawks designated pain in the shorts largely responsible for holding the Lakers star to eight points on 4-of-14 shooting.
Proud of his defense, attacking Bryant with a predator’s nose for weakness, Carroll said, “I wanted to pick him up full court and try to get his legs tired. All his shots were falling short because his legs were tired.”
Different cast from the first meeting, same beginning. The Hawks fell behind the Lakers early, missing seven of their first eight shots and trailing by as many as 10 points in the first quarter, into the second.
This hole, however, never reached November’s depth (a 21-point deficit). And the Hawks consider themselves a different team in their 25th game of the season as opposed to their third.
“We’re a lot better,” the Hawks leading scorer, center Al Horford (19 points) said. “We have Lou Williams back and we’re healthy overall. And we have more of an identity now.”
The Hawks began repairing the damage late in the first quarter using an unlikely contractor. Reserve center Elton Brand matched his season-high of eight points in a 10-minute first-half span. Adding three resounding blocks, five rebounds and a steal in the first half, the 34-year-old Brand supplied the kids with an infusion of oomph.
There was a visible carry-over into the second half. Using a 12-0 run midway through the quarter — with five different players doing the scoring — the Hawks ran out to a 70-62 lead. And never let up on throttle.
If it wasn’t Kyle Korver hitting 3s — he made three of them to extend his NBA-record streak to 94 consecutive games with at least one — it was Horford doing all sorts of damage from mid-range in. Paul Millsap added 18 points and nine rebounds.
Because they play in such a poorer neighborhood than the Lakers, the Hawks’ 13-12 record places them among the top three in the East, while L.A.’s 11-13 mark has them looking up at most of the West. Still, it didn’t seem Monday like any other routine victory over a sub-.500 opponent.
“A big win,” Horford said, “there’s no getting around it. Just one game, and it’s early. But a big win.”
