Hawks Dissected by Lakers 123-104

The Los Angeles Lakers came into Philips Arena with a glimpse of what the Atlanta Hawks’ future might look like. With a cupboard full of up-and-coming talent, the Lakers outclassed Atlanta on its home floor, dominating them in every fashion en route to a 123-104 victory.

This was a rather wacky game overall, as the race for the top pick gets tighter. The Lakers’ extreme speed of play had the Hawks on the back foot all night, and it also led the away team to an immense 23 turnovers. The Hawks only had 14. That’s promising.

That promise was squandered, however, by a supremely efficient and balanced attack from Los Angeles headlined by the efforts of Julius Randle and Brandon Ingram.

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In terms of overall shooting numbers, the Lakers were unconscious. LA shot 52.2 percent from the field, 73.7 percent from the line and a sky-high 45.5 percent from downtown, headlined by a perfect night from Lonzo Ball and his unorthodox stroke (3 of 3 from deep).

The entire roster was on display for the Lakers on this night as every player on the team who played more than 5 minutes scored in double figures.

As stated, Brandon Ingram was in rare form, and the spindly wing finished with 21 points, 10 rebounds, 6 assists, 3 blocks, 1 steal and a game-high +19 box plus/minus in only 28 minutes of action.

Julius Randle was undeniable inside, finishing with 19 points and 10 rebounds. Randle was throwing his bulk around inside, and the Hawks thin front line had absolutely no answer for it. For his efforts, Randle finished with 4 offensive rebounds – almost all of which were strength and effort boards.

Everything the Lakers did turned to gold on this night, and after an 11-0 spurt in the 3^rd quarter by Atlanta, Brandon Ingram turned up the heat and practically closed the book on this game by scoring 11 of his 21 points in the final 7 minutes of the period.