As they had planned after losing three of their past four, the Hawks brought more energy and a transition game Tuesday night to Philips Arena.
The Lakers, though, brought ... the Lakers.
The NBA's hottest team and its two-time defending champion asserted its superiority over the Hawks, ending its three-game losing streak at Philips by a 101-87 score. The Hawks (37-27) have lost four of their past five and will next try to arrest their skid in Chicago, where the Bulls have won 17 of their past 18 and will be eager for payback against the Hawks. The Lakers (46-19) extended their unbeaten streak since the All-Star break to eight games, by an average of 11.8 points.
"I think that we had a much better effort," center Al Horford said. "It just wasn't enough."
The Lakers pulled away in the third quarter with a 16-3 run that pushed their lead to 79-57. The thousands of Lakers fans in the sellout crowd of 19,890 serenaded guard Kobe Bryant with chants of "MVP!" as the game drew to a close.
The Lakers did not win because of their 13-time All-Star guard, who finished with 26 points on 18 shots, but instead because of big men Pau Gasol and Andrew Bynum. The two consistently established good position on post-ups, collected nine offensive rebounds and dominated the paint.
"Both those guys are very tough because they take up so much space. They're long, and when they go down into the post, if they get it above their heads, it's almost impossible to block," coach Larry Drew said of Gasol and Bynum. "They're tough assignments, and they took advantage of it."
Their Hawks counterparts, Horford and Josh Smith, outscored Gasol and Bynum 33-30 but were outrebounded 27-15. Gasol and Bynum's defensive presence limited the Hawks' options on offense. The Hawks took 23 of their 79 shots in the paint, making 10, compared with the Lakers' 22-for-38 shooting in the paint.
From the start, the Hawks pushed the pace as they had promised. They ran practically at every missed shot and turnover, which led to 20 fast-break points, which is more than they had scored in 10 of their past 11 games. With the Lakers shooting the ball well and taking care of possessions, however, the Hawks didn't get enough opportunities and didn't convert enough of those they received.
"I think we settled for a lot of jump shots [in transition]," Horford said. "I don’t think we were running hard enough."
The Hawks moved the ball better than in recent games, but the Lakers made them labor for open shots and forced them into plenty of contested ones. After shooting 60.0 percent in the first quarter, the Hawks shot 33.3 percent the rest of the way.
Aided by the aggressive play of center Zaza Pachulia, the Hawks mounted a late challenge. They had closed to within 90-82 when guard Kirk Hinrich pulled up for a 3-pointer that would have closed the gap to five points. The shot bounced off the rim and the rally fizzled. It ended when Bryant nailed a 3-pointer with the shot clock running down with 3:20 to play, holding his follow through in Jordanesque fashion, that made the score 96-82.
"This is just a little bump in the road," said Drew, drawing either on heavy optimism or significant experience driving in Atlanta.
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