The Los Angeles Lakers lost on Friday night, as the Atlanta Hawks shot 50 percent from the field to sink the Lakers 100-87.
Kobe Bryant, of course, stole the show with crowd ovations and a scintillating sequence of back-to-back three-pointers in the third quarter, but the 37-year-old could not find his shot and appeared content to defer on this night.
Bryant finished with 14 points on 4-19 shooting from the field, and he also added five assist. On more than one occasion, Bryant made the extra pass. Unfortunately, though, the Lakers simply could not throw the ball in the ocean on this night and finished shooting 37.2 percent for the game.
As far as bright spots are concerned, D&'Angelo Russell played over 36 minutes and notched his first career double-double with 16 points, tied for his career-high, and 10 rebounds, which set a new career-high. The rookie point guard also contributed four assists, but he lost the plot on occasion and ended up with seven turnovers on the night.
As a whole, the Lakers played a sloppy game evidenced by the team committing 16 turnovers, but the Hawks played down to the opposition and committed 17 turnovers of their own. With the sloppiness taking hold of the hometown Hawks, the Lakers managed to cut the gap from 19 points in the second quarter to only four points with 4:46 to play in the game.
However, the Lakers entirely fell apart at this point. Bryant missed a couple of shots, Russell and Bryant committed a turnover each, Julius Randle committed a shooting foul, and the Lakers suddenly trailed by a dozen points with 2:00 to play. From 4:46 to 2:05 left in the game, the Hawks went on an 8-0 run that decided the outcome of the game.
From there, the Lakers fell apart further and ended up trailing by 15 points before ultimately losing by 13. For the Hawks, Jeff Teague, Al Horford and Paul Millsap combined to score 44 points, which fit the game plan and the pregame notes.
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On the season, the Lakers fell to 3-16. Next, the team plays in Detroit on Sunday at 3 p.m. Pacific Time.
Notes: Jordan Clarkson scored 14 points in 29 minutes and made all three of his three-pointers. In all, Clarkson shot 5-8 from the field. Lou Williams finished as the highest scorer in the game with 18 points off the Lakers' bench. Williams jumped straight from high school in Georgia to the NBA in 2005, so this was a homecoming game for the 29-year-old. Russell was the only player in the game to collect a double-double.
