Lakers end their 9 game road trip with victory over the Atlanta Hawks, going 7–2 overall on the road.
The Lakers were able to close out in the 4th quarter of tonight’s game to beat the Atlanta Hawks and win their 16th game of the season. It was a great defensive team effort as the Lakers iced the game with multiple defensive stops in the 4th quarter. Tonight’s 107–99 victory over the Hawks moves the Lakers to a 16 and a 6 record overall and 11–2 record on the road this season.
For the 8th time this season the Lakers held a team from scoring more than 100 points and finish with a win. The Lakers held the Atlanta Hawks to 99 points tonight, as it was only the 3rd time this season a team has held the Hawks to score under 100.
Lebron James and Anthony Davis combined for 46 points in tonight’s win over the Atlanta Hawks. The Lakers had great energy from the bench tonight as they scored 32 points total. The Lakers starting group combined for a total of 75 points tonight, a sure recipe for success.
Anthony Davis finished tonight’s victory with a game high 25 points in 34 minutes on 10 of 14 (71%) shooting from the field goal. To go along with Davis’ 25 points he had 3 blocks and went 4 for 5 (80%) from the free throw line. Free throw shooting was an issue Davis spoke with the media a couple of games ago about being a mental issue and tonight he looked great all around.
Lebron James had scored just under 10 points up until 10 minutes left in the 4th quarter of tonight’s game. Even with an off night, scoring Lebron James finished with 21 points as 12 of those 21 points came in the 4th quarter of the win. Lebron James had 9 assists, 7 rebounds and 2 steals in 37 total minutes to go along with his 21 points on 5 of 12 shooting.
Former Atlanta Hawk, Dennis Schroder had a great night on both offense and defense. Dennis Schroder played excellent defense in the 4th quarter on Hawks point guard Trae Young. Schroder made ball handling difficult for Young as he pressured him tight in half court defense throughout the 4th quarter. Dennis Schroder finished tonight, scoring 16 points on 6 of 10 (60%) shooting.
The Lakers had a great night defensively against this Hawks offense. The Lakers forced Atlanta to commit 17 total turnovers with 7 of those coming from Hawks guard Trae Young.
A huge aspect of tonight’s Lakers win came from the surge of the bench as they brought a much needed tempo in tonight’s ball game, finishing with 32 total points.
Montrezl Harrell finished with 19 points on 8 of 9 shooting with 12 of those points coming in the first half. With Harrell’s 19 point performance tonight, Harrell has now scored 15 or more points in 9 games this season. Montrezl Harrell was asked by the media about the assessment of the Lakers 9 game road trip going 7–2:
“It’s a learning process taking it one game at a time, but like I said I think we have great leadership and I believe those guys are going to lead us in the right direction.”
The Lakers finished their 9 game road trip with a 7–2 record. With tonight’s win over the Atlanta Hawks, the Lakers still remain in 3rd place in the Western Conference behind the 1st place 16–5 Los Angeles Clippers and 2nd place 15–5 Utah Jazz.
The Lakers have the next two days off as they travel back home to face the 12–8 Denver Nuggets on Thursday night. The Denver Nuggets and MVP front runner Nikola Jokic look for revenge on the defending NBA champion Lakers as they were the team that knocked them out of last season’s playoff bubble in Orlando. Look for an exciting matchup between Anthony Davis and Nikola Jokic.