The Lakers tried to comeback from a first-half deficit, but ultimately didn’t have enough to overtake the Hawks
After picking up a big win on Wednesday night, the Los Angeles Lakers were looking to continue taking steps forward in another road game against a high-quality Eastern Conference opponent in the Atlanta Hawks. In the first half, it looked like the Lakers were taking steps back rather than building off of the win over the Washington Wizards.
The first quarter started out with both the Lakers and the Hawks shooting the ball with horrible inefficiency, particularly Kobe Bryant and the rest of the starters. It was then the Hawks that pulled it together in the second quarter behind a nice effort from Al Horford and Mike Scott that led to Atlanta holding a 16-point halftime lead. In fact, it could have been much worse if not for Lou Williams stepping up off of the bench as the starters were shooting a combined 6-27 at the half.
The Lakers came out with a newfound energy to start the second half, though. Jordan Clarkson came to life, as did D’Angelo Russell in terms of his scoring and an unexpected flurry of rebounding from the point guard. Thanks to that run in the third, the Lakers trailed the Hawks by only six points going into the final 12 minutes.
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However, the inescapable problems of the Lakers surfaced in the fourth quarter after the Lakers got the lead down to four points. Kobe started trying to force up shots, Byron Scott inexplicably benched Clarkson, and the things that got L.A. back in the game all but disappeared.
With all of those shortcomings from a gameplan and rotation perspective, it’s not surprising that the Hawks were able to pull away toward the end of the quarter and put the Lakers back to their losing ways.
It wasn’t an abysmal effort from the Lakers as players like Russell and Clarkson showed real flashes of promise amidst some less promising moments. However, the problems that have been present all season were still there and only confirm that the rebuilding process is still going to be hard to watch at times.
Three stars
D’Angelo Russell made plenty of mistakes and committed some silly turnovers, but there were flashes of brilliance by the rookie. He finished with the first double-double of his career as he put up 16 points, 10 rebounds, and four assists.
Lou Williams kept the Lakers at least at a manageable distance behind Atlanta in the first half and was impressive for the second straight game. The veteran finished with a team-high 18 points on 6-13 shooting from the field.
Kent Bazemore was big on both ends of the floor for the Hawks in this one, coming up with 15 points, three rebounds, two assists, and four steals off of the bench.
Highlights
https://twitter.com/Lakers/status/672966892827602945
Randle to the rim! https://t.co/ogQ4bjZiDw
— Trevor Lane (@Trevor_Lane) December 5, 2015
D'Angelo Russell doing a Julius Randle impression https://t.co/4txLVnUIoG
— Trevor Lane (@Trevor_Lane) December 5, 2015
Odds
Atlanta were 11.5-point favorites coming into the game and covered with the 13-point win. The two teams hit the under on the 202.5-point O/U line.
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Next Game
The Lakers play again on Sunday afternoon as they’ll remain on the road to take on the Detroit Pistons.
Atlanta won’t play again until next Wednesday when they go on the road to take on the Dallas Mavericks.