The Atlanta Hawks returned to action on Monday night in Los Angeles again, but this time against the Lakers.
The Hawks were just coming off a dominant performance against the Clippers, and they were looking to build on that win against a Lakers team that is also the 10th seed in their respective conference. Luckily for the Hawks, they got Onyeka Okongwu back tonight after he missed several games due to a foot injury.
The Hawks got off to a fast start, and Jalen Johnson got things off right with a poster dunk on Austin Reaves.
Bogdan Bogdanovic knocked down a pair of threes to increase the Hawks lead early in the first.
Though the Hawks got off to that fast start, the Lakers were able to quickly get back into the game, and take the lead as well. The Lakers controlled the game for the remainder of the quarter, and the Hawks trailed by 10 points going into the second.
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The Hawks would cut into the Lakers lead, but Los Angeles would always find a way to run the score back up. Johnson kept the Hawks afloat, making plays on and off the ball, in the half-court and in transition.
Johnson continued his dunk session into the second quarter as well, throwing down this dunk on the baseline.
The Lakers were efficient on offense, and the Hawks were having a hard time stopping them and getting anything going on offense for themselves. As the first half came to a close, the Hawks got their deficit down to 14 points.
The third quarter did not bode well for the Hawks, with the Lakers continuing to put pressure on the opposing team. The Hawks still couldn’t get much going on offenses and they couldn’t stop much of what the Lakers were doing as well.
Despite the deficit, Vit Krejci hit this nice move over LeBron James.
Wesley Matthews came into the game and started hitting threes, trying to stop the bleeding from the Hawks offense.
Going into the fourth quarter, the Hawks trailed the Lakers 111-86. The Hawks never recovered from there and were down by as much as 30 points throughout the end of the game.
Johnson finished the game with 25 points, nine rebounds, and four assists, and Murray finished with 13 points and 10 assists.
The Hawks will be back in action on Thursday against the Phoenix Suns.
