The Atlanta Hawks will try to get their high-powered offense in gear again on Tuesday vs. the visiting Los Angeles Lakers, a team that has had plenty of problems lately when it comes to stopping the opposition.
The Hawks are tied for fourth in the NBA with an average of 120.2 points per game. The Lakers rank 19th in the league in defense, giving up 117.2 points per contest, but have allowed an average of 134.5 points over the past four games.
Atlanta ended a four-game losing streak on Sunday by beating the visiting Toronto Raptors 126-125. The Hawks had four players with double-doubles in the game, the fifth time they accomplished that feat this season, the most such games by any NBA team since the 1978-79 Detroit Pistons had five and the most by a Hawks team since it happened six times in 1968-69.
“I thought we were connected (Sunday),” Hawks coach Quin Snyder said. “It is not going to happen every night, but that doesn’t mean we can’t strive for it for 48 minutes. That is our goal, to have that type of determination and perseverance when things don’t go our way.”
Atlanta’s Trae Young had 30 points and 12 assists in the win, the 75th time in his career that he produced 30-plus points and 10-plus assists. He became the second-youngest player and second-fastest player in games played to reach the milestone, behind only Oscar Robertson. Young, 25, is one 30-point, 10-assist performance away from tying Nate Archibald for the fifth-most 30-10 games in NBA history.
Hawks center Clint Capela has quietly accrued 20 double-doubles, including a 19-point, 14-rebound effort against the Raptors. Capela has had 15-plus points and 10-plus rebounds on 65 percent shooting in 91 games since the 2015-16 season, the third most in the NBA during that span. He trails only the Minnesota Timberwolves’ Rudy Gobert (170 games) and the Denver Nuggets’ Nikola Jokic (97).
Atlanta hopes to get guard Dejounte Murray back for Tuesday’s game. Murray, who is averaging a career-high 21.4 points, had started all 45 games before sitting out Sunday due to right hamstring tightness.
The Lakers will be on the second night of a back-to-back set, having lost 135-119 to the host Houston Rockets on Monday. Los Angeles trailed by as many as 30 points and saw Jarred Vanderbilt get ejected early in the second quarter after an incident with Houston’s Dillon Brooks.
“They got all the hustle plays, a lot of 50-50 plays,” said the Lakers’ D’Angelo Russell, who scored 23 points in the loss. “There was a lot of miscommunication that led to them getting some easy ones. That’s all a team needs to get some momentum.”
LeBron James played Monday despite a left ankle ailment, and Anthony Davis was in the lineup even though he had two ailing Achilles tendons. James and Davis each scored 23 points.
Davis also sustained a hip/groin injury at Houston, and he said his status would be a game-time decision on Tuesday.
“I just couldn’t move how I usually move on both ends of the floor,” Davis said.
James last took a game off last Tuesday. He has not played the second game in two of the team’s past three back-to-backs.
This will be the third game of Atlanta’s six-game homestand and the third game of the Lakers’ six-game road trip. Each team split the previous two games.
The Hawks and Lakers are set to play their first of two meetings this season, ahead of a rematch in Los Angeles on March 18. The Lakers swept both contests last season.
–Field Level Media