Lakers fall to the Atlanta Hawks after losing LeBron James in the first half to an ankle injury, snapping a 4 game win streak.
The Lakers 4 game win streak came to an end tonight, losing 99–94 to the Atlanta Hawks and moving their season record to 28–14. The Lakers suffered a major blow in the first half of tonight’s ball game losing LeBron James to an ankle injury after Hawks Solomon Hill rolled on it diving for a loose ball. Coming into tonight’s matchup, both teams entered with a winning streak, with the Lakers 4 game win streak coming to an end the Hawks moved on to an 8 game win streak with tonight’s victory.
After the injury to LeBron James in the 2nd quarter, the Lakers struggled to find a rhythm. To start the second half the Atlanta Hawks went on a 12–0 run and took advantage of a LeBron James less Lakers team as the Lakers played catch-up all game. The Lakers’ struggles came from everywhere tonight on offense, committing 16 turnovers compared to the Hawks 8 turnovers. One of the Lakers' biggest strong suits is being one of the best teams in the NBA on the fastbreak and tonight they lost a huge player that makes them one of the best as the Lakers had 9 fastbreak points. The Lakers were not able to control the Hawks on the glass, allowing 16 offensive rebounds leading to 17-second chance points.
The great news for the Lakers was that it was reported that James’ right ankle came back negative indicating no structural damage after going through the process of an MRI right after the game. Lakers head coach Frank Vogel spoke after tonight’s game about LeBron James’ injury and the injuries this Lakers team has suffered this season saying:
“It’s certainly going to be a challenge any time you are undermanned, but if you play team-first basketball and you defend at a high level, you have a chance to win. That’ll be our mindset. To me, we have enough to win. I think it was just a little tough for our guys to adjust on the fly.”
The Lakers have dealt with an abundance of injuries this season from Anthony Davis calf injury, to COVID protocols between Dennis Schroder and Marc Gasol with a huge right ankle injury of LeBron James. Throughout the season this Lakers team has been vocal about the “next man up” mentality and multiple Lakers spoke on that after tonight’s game. One of those players was Dennis Schroder saying:
“We have the deepest bench in the NBA and we have that next man-up mentality.”
Despite the struggles, the Lakers had tonight, there were some bright spots to look at and give praise to as the leading scorer for the Lakers was the always energetic Montrezl Harrell. Harrell had a much-needed performance recording a double-double of 23 points and 11 rebounds on 10–13 (77%) shooting from the field. Harrell spoke about the dive on the ball by Solomon Hill that lead to the right ankle injury of LeBron James saying:
“We don’t feel like it was one of those basketball-type plays. He had to go through his leg to get the ball. I don’t think it’s one of those plays where he tried to do it, but those are the things that you’ve got to look at. We’re quick to look at it when a guy is shooting a three, but not when guys do it there.”
With tonight’s loss to the Atlanta Hawks, the Lakers are now tied with the Phoenix Suns for 2nd place in the Western Conference at 28–14. The Lakers next match is the Phoenix Suns tomorrow afternoon for a second back-to-back game in the past 7 days. LeBron James will be out indefinitely tomorrow vs the Suns as they look to the “Next man up” mentality on this Lakers squad to come out and bounce back tomorrow afternoon.