HAWKS -at- LAKERS - 3-18-24 - Thoughts and :-)) Ratings

[DancingBarry]

Blowout... The Lakers fell back early, 11-2, in this game. After that slow start, which saw Austin Reaves posterized on a dunk, they dominated the visiting Hawks.

As they fell behind, they leaned on their stars to get them going. Bron and AD imposed themselves on the Hawks, the help D started to come and the Lakers moved the ball for easy looks.

They won all four quarters, scoring 73 points at the half before outscoring the Hawks 63-46 in the second half.

It was D’Angelo Russell who broke the game open late in the third quarter, closing the quarter with a logo three and a runner three at the buzzer. He followed that up early in the fourth with his fifth and sixth threes of the game, and this one was officially out of hand.

His last three tied the Laker record for made threes in a season -- a long-held record by Nick Van Exel. The Lakers cruised to the 136-105 win, tallying 36 assists as they picked apart the Hawks defense with ease.


LeBron -- -- He and AD set the tone early by getting to the rim from the post or drive. Before this game was a blowout, he was really focused on getting downhill or imposing his physicality. Russell was hitting a lot of catch-and-shoot threes. A lot of those were triggered off Bron drawing attention. Once the D started to worry about Bron, they started zoning and helping and turned to Swiss cheese as Bron picked them apart with the pass. The Lakers had 39 assists. One of the highlight plays of the game happened late in the first half. Russell found Bron on a rim run, hitting him over the top of the fronting D. Reaves then stole the inbounds and went behind his back to Bron immediately afterward for a dunk. The Stats: He scored 25 points on 10-14 shooting (2-5 from three, 3-3 from the line) to go with 7 boards, 10 assists, 2 turnovers and no fouls in 29 minutes. He was a +20.

Davis -- -- Back in the mix after the short one the previous night. Efficient night overall. He was attacking from the post or in the paint early on with most of his scoring early. Later in the game, he went to more of the perimeter action. He was knocking down midrange on the pick and pop. He also hit a sideline three on iso. Good job on the glass. Only Laker with double digits there. As far as the injury, it didn’t seem to impact anything. Worthy talked about how after his eye injury started playing a bit tentative until he got the goggles. Horry talked about how his eyelid was ripped in college on a foul and he had to have surgery. Ouch. AD didn’t look tentative at all. The Stats: He scored 22 points on 10-14 shooting (1-2 from three, 1-2 from the line) to go with 15 boards, 6 assists, 2 steals, 1 block, 2 turnovers and 2 fouls in 31 minutes. He was a +28.

Russell -- -- He tied the single season Laker record for made threes in a season in this one. That was a 30-year record. “That’s really cool,” he stated multiple times. He’ll need to work on his quotes for when he officially breaks it. He made 6-10 and his last one was pretty much the one that turned this game into garbage time. At the end of the third, he sank a logo three on a two-for-one. Next time down, he hit the running three at the buzzer. Bron then found him for a pick and pop three in the fourth. And then him for the last three shortly later. That was like a series of haymakers that forced the TKO. Game over. He led the team in scoring and also led with Bron in assists with 10 with only 1 turnover. Some pick and pops with AD to set him up and also hit Hayes rolling for FTs on a stack play to work with his big men. A lot of pace to Russell’s game tonight. The Stats: He scored 27 points on 8-14 shooting (6-10 from three, 5-5 from the line) to go with 4 boards, 10 assists, 1 steal, 1 turnover and 1 foul in 30 minutes. He was a +27.

Reaves -- -- He started this game taking a massive And-1 dunk in transition, just getting smashed. Asked what happened, “Everybody seen what happened,” Reaves said. “I think that might have been the first time I’ve really been dunked on.” Some nice plays setting up his stars. He cut middle to take a pass and then lobbed to AD for a dunk. He also had an inbounds steal in the backcourt and went behind his back to Bron rumbling down the lane for a dunk. He got into the middle of the paint a few times on cuts when the D was worried about the Laker starts. Defensively, the Hawks went through his chest a bit early on and AR picked up some early fouls. The team D did a good job helping out. The Stats: He scored 12 points on 4-9 shooting (0-3 from three, 4-4 from the line) to go with 6 boards, 4 assists, 1 steal, 1 block and 3 fouls in 28 minutes. He was a +21.

Hachimura -- -- Some bad D around him that he took advantage of. The Laker stars were drawing a lot of attention as they imposed themselves early. Once the help D started to concern themselves more, Rui slipped in behind turned heads into the gaps to take some passes for scores. He also buried a three and got out on the break for a score. He did have a lucky And-1 where he was hacked as he was powering up and the ball slipped out of his hands, but still went in. Solid outing. The Stats: He scored 17 points on 7-10 shooting (1-2 from three, 2-2 from the line) to go with 3 boards, 1 assist and 3 fouls in 26 minutes. He was a +21.

Dinwiddie -- -- A +23 off the bench. Some of that might have been some decent D on Murray. Offensively, he made one shot, a catch and shoot three from the corner on a nice drive and kick from Rui. He found Hayes on a lob and also hit Prince for a paint score on a rare two-man action with those two. The Stats: He scored 3 points on 1-4 shooting (1-2 from three) to go with 1 board, 3 assists, 1 turnover and no fouls in 21 minutes. He was a +23.

Prince -- -- The D seemed to be a bit confused at times with Prince out there early on. Once the Lakers cleaned up some of that, the Hawks couldn’t keep pace. He sank a couple of threes, one in the corner, another in transition. He also had a layup off a two-man action with Dinwiddie. His best play on D was blocking Hunter on iso, but then he immediately lost the ball while pushing it up court. The Stats: He scored 8 points on 3-8 shooting (2-7 from three) to go with 5 boards, 1 assist, 1 block, 1 turnover and 2 fouls in 20 minutes. He was a +15.

Christie -- -- Good start to this game. He came out aggressive. He attacked the baseline, kicked it out, immediately relocated and got the ball back in the corner for a three. He drew FTs attacking in transition. He attacked off the three line and dunked with both hands. He’d bury another corner three on a kickout from Russell. That was all in the first half when the game was still in question. He’d get another layup in transition being aggressive. Good work. The Stats: He scored 11 points on 4-9 shooting (2-4 from three, 1-2 from the line) to go with 3 boards, 1 assist and 1 foul in 22 minutes. He was a +6.

Hayes -- -- A few dunks in this one. He dunked working the screen-roll with Dinwiddie. He had another dunk changing ends with Mays on the break. And then shortly later another dunk on an offensive board. Defensively, a nice block in the post and he controlled it on one play. The Stats: He scored 7 points on 3-4 shooting (1-2 from the line) to go with3 boards, 1 block and 2 fouls in 17 minutes. He was a +3.

Mays -- -- Some lengthy garbage time where he managed a couple steals. He dunked in transition off some horrid Atlanta D. He also hit Hayes filling the lane for a dunk on the break. The Stats: He scored 2 points on 1-2 shooting to go with 1 assist, 2 steals, 1 turnover and 1 foul in 5 minutes. He was a -3.

Giles III -- -- He scored a layup off the two-man game with Lewis. The Stats: He scored 2 points on 1-1 shooting to go with 1 board in 5 minutes. He was a -5.

Lewis -- -- Finally a little more action from him. He setup Giles on the two-man action for a layup. He had a great defensive possession where he smothered his man after a series of moves and then forced him into an airball. He missed a step-back three on iso. The Stats: He didn’t score on 0-1 shooting and had 2 assists and no fouls in 5 minutes. He was a -3.

Ham -- -- Key Moment: The Lakers fell back 11-2 to start this game. Once they got on track after that, they were relentless. They got their stars on track, imposing themselves. Then once the help came, Atlanta was in trouble. The Lakers won all four quarters.

Key Substitution: That final shift of the third quarter where Russell was subbed in broke the game open. Russell started bombing and the Hawks had no chance after that.

Key Stats: The Lakers shot 57.8% from the floor in this game, including 41.7% from three (15-36). They had 39 assists with just 8 individual turnovers. Very nice.

[slavavov]

Thanks DB.

Finally the Lakers play to their level of ability and not the level of competition. They got a sizable lead and only get increasing it as the game went on instead of getting bored and overconfident.

Why can't they always do this against bad and mediocre teams?
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[joeblow]

An expected win, but nice all the same.

One interesting wrinkle tonight was Ham's newest 3-guard lineup that I don't think I've seen before. During the second half of the first quarter, he went with Austin, Christie, and Dinwiddie, which netted a positive result even though Prince was in the PF slot (which I've never liked).

AD at center anchored it down, but at least we had our two best defensive guards on the floor when going with three of them. If Ham has to go with three guards while we wait to get healthier, Christie and Dinwiddie as a combo on the floor is definitely better at guarding opponents than DLo and Reeves.

[A Mad Chinaman]

[JUST-MING]

I thought Chucky Atkins broke Nick Van Exel’s record. Congratulations to Dangelo. Big night.

[jodeke]

A win yes, a blowout surprising because the Hawks were playing good ball since Trae went down.
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[TDRock]

Yay winning!

Thanks DB
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#IStillBelieveTaurean

[Dr. Laker]

Thx, DB!

A win is a win!
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On Lakersground, a concern troll is someone who is a fan of another team, but pretends to be a Lakers fan with "concerns".

[Dr. Laker]

[TooMuchMajicBuss]

Thanks again DB!

Kudos to the Lakers for the blowout win, kudos to DLO for 3pt excellence.

[pio2u]

Thx DB

[tox]

[A Mad Chinaman]