The Los Angeles Lakers looked to keep things rolling as they began a five-game road trip against the Atlanta Hawks on Friday night.
The Lakers were going for their sixth straight win but again had to do so shorthanded with LeBron James, Austin Reaves and others out of the lineup. The Hawks were also without key pieces in the second night of a back-to-back, but that didn’t matter as they were the more aggressive team and came away with a 122-102 victory as a result to drop the Lakers to 7-3 on the season. It was the first road loss of the season for JJ Redick’s team.
Atlanta jumped out to a 6-2 lead before Rui Hachimura ripped off five straight points to give L.A. its first lead. From there though, the Hawks ripped off an 8-0 run. Luka Doncic ended it with a triple, but he found himself in early foul trouble and the Lakers needed a timeout.
It was clear early on that the Lakers would not be able to coast as Atlanta was making everything. It didn’t help that L.A. was providing very little resistant defensively, and as a result the Hawks led 37-29 at the end of the first.
Turnovers were as issue as the Lakers couldn’t take care of the ball and the Hawks turned it into easy buckets to stretch their lead to 15.
Doncic and Jake LaRavia were doing what they could to chip away, but the Lakers kept turning the ball over and couldn’t get any stops so they went into the halftime locker room trailing 68-54.
It appeared that the Lakers had picked up their energy to begin the third as they began it on a 7-2 run. That was short-lived, however, as the Hawks continued to create turnovers and knock down open shots to respond with a 13-2 run to take a 20-point lead.
Mouhamed Gueye had a career night for Atlanta, making plays for his team on both ends of the floor. When the Hawks punched the Lakers in the mouth in the third quarter, they had no response as the deficit just kept growing all the way to 99-72 going into the fourth.
With the Lakers showing no signs of making a comeback and it being the first of a long five-game road trip, Redick pulled the plug early and rested his starters in the fourth. Doncic wound up playing just 27 minutes and finished with 22 points, all of which were scored in the first half.
What’s next for the Lakers…
The Lakers will have a chance to bounce back when they continue their road trip on Monday night against the Charlotte Hornets and then on Wednesday against the defending champion Oklahoma City Thunder.
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