The Los Angeles Lakers had momentum going into their road trip, riding a five-game winning streak prior to their matchup against the Atlanta Hawks.
While the Lakers have had their own fair share of injuries to begin the 2025-26 season, the Hawks came into the night decimated as they were missing several of their key players including Trae Young and Jalen Johnson. Atlanta was also playing on the second night of a back-to-back, making it look like an easier matchup on paper for Los Angeles.
However, the Lakers wound up playing arguably their worst game of the season and were blown out by the shorthanded Hawks. Los Angeles lost to Atlanta 122-102, often looking listless and disengaged on both ends of the floor.
Head coach JJ Redick didn’t mince words when it came to his team’s performance, via Spectrum SportsNet:
“Yeah, just not a lot to like tonight.”
When asked whether or not this loss was more attributed to L.A. or Atlanta, Redick credited the home team for competing the right way:
“They brought the requisite level of effort and urgency and physicality.”
Redick also stewed when asked about how upsetting it was to kick off the road trip with such poor effort:
“Yeah, very disappointing.”
Lastly, Redick said he knew that Los Angeles was going to be in for a long night almost as soon as the game started:
“I realized that in the first two minutes of the game.”
Redick didn’t have much to say and for good reason as the loss could be simply summed up as the Lakers not competing or giving enough effort. It’s easy to overlook an injury-riddled team playing on a back-to-back, but there’s still no excuse for Los Angeles to lose as poorly as they did.
It’s the first true dud of the season for the Lakers, but Redick has every reason to be upset with the showing to begin the road trip. The Western Conference is as competitive as ever, so losing winnable games could come back to bite L.A. down the stretch.
Hopefully, this was a wake up call and the Lakers go back to playing their brand of basketball on Monday against the Charlotte Hornets.
JJ Redick calls Marcus Smart the quarterback of the Lakers defense
The Lakers defense against the Hawks was softer than usual, though it wasn’t for a lack of effort from Marcus Smart. Smart has endeared himself to the team and coaching staff for his two-way intensity and JJ Redick called him the quarterback of their defense.
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