Los Angeles Lakers: 3 lessons from win vs Atlanta Hawks
By Ronald Agers
The Los Angeles Lakers barely got by the Atlanta Hawks on Sunday night. Here are three lessons learned from the game.
The Los Angeles Lakers beat the Atlanta Hawks. Okay, that is a phrase that we all thought would happen when the schedules came out.
The Lakers are better, stronger and more athletic than the Hawks, who are wildly believed to be front-runners in the Zion Willamson sweepstakes (Wanna call it tanking?…Okay!). The game will be over by halftime and we can all catch up on that sleep from the Sacramento game…
Yeah…okay!
No writer can possibly explain the last two possessions without pictures to prove it. I wouldn’t believe this and I’m writing it…Let’s forget the other 47:20 seconds okay…
https://twitter.com/SportsCenter/status/1061845275441094661
Follow me on this…
LeBron James misses two free throws in crunch time…(again). Kyle Kuzma taps the ball at the rim, gets it back, gets stripped of the ball and shoots the ball at the rim, then LeBron James catches it off the rim and dunks on Hawks rookie Omari Spellman! Really? Press play…I ain’t lying folks!
Then Tyson Chandler who is making me look like a genius right now…
During the scrum after the missed free throws, Tyson pushed Atlanta Hawks’ seven-footer Alex Len basically out of the play so Kyle Kuzma could have a chance to get the ball (Also read…BOXING OUT!). With the Hawks only legit shot blocker preoccupied with Chandler, it allowed James’ free reign to the basket for the put-back dunk.
Then Tyson Chandler goes to the other end and saves the game with a last-second block of Trae Young‘s layup attempt.
https://twitter.com/NBATV/status/1061846387476840448
I’m going to give Brandon Ingram some advice…you might want to take Tyson Chandler out to dinner, buy him a drink, buy him a card, something because he really saved your hide.
Trae Young basically blew by Ingram with the dribble and was attempting to win the game with a floater. Tyson Chandler raised his arms to the rafters, saluted the retired jerseys and blocked the shot…Game over!
It goes back to what I said in the Sacramento Kings post game…
"One thing that the Lakers fans might need to realize about Chandler. Even though he is in his 18th year in the NBA, that might be a little misleading. Remember, Phoenix held him out for the better part of the second half of last season and he barely played this season. The man is energized by the fact that… A. He knows how lucky he is to be out of Phoenix and that dumpster fire situation that they have and… B. He’s on a team where he knows that he can contribute in a major way. The Lakers needs his attributes right now and he needs to be in a place where he can play and be effective. Perfect match for team and player. More important, a perfect pickup for Magic Johnson and Rob Pelinka which provides help for the roster without messing up the salary cap."
The Los Angeles Lakers are 3-0 since signing Chandler to a free agent deal and he has his DNA specifically on two of them. He was a major part of BOTH plays showed above.
Rob Pelinka was happy…
THANK YOU TYSON CHANDLER. pic.twitter.com/nsoBEMLrr7
— Lakers Nation (@LakersNation) November 12, 2018
Now that was the last 20 seconds of the game…
How about the first 47:40 seconds of the game? Umm if you are a casual fan that doesn’t want the truth? Stop reading. But I know there are Lakers fans that are really irritated about how this team allowed things to even get to this…
For you guys…this is for you! Here are the three lessons…