Hawks struggle defensively in loss to Lakers

1. Finally, it seemed Hawks roster was almost back to normal, with Bogdan Bogdanovic (15 points, four rebounds, two assists), John Collins (21 points, eight rebounds) and Jalen Johnson exiting health and safety protocols for this game. Plus, Trae Young returned after missing one game with a low back contusion. But, in another bout of bad luck, Clint Capela (nine points, 11 rebounds) exited the game early in the fourth quarter with what the Hawks ruled a left ankle sprain. Regarding the team’s COVID-19 outbreak, though, the Hawks are down to three players in health and safety protocols as of Friday night (Gorgui Dieng, plus two players on 10-day hardship deals, Cameron Oliver and Chris Clemons), though De’Andre Hunter (right wrist injury recovery) is still out injured.

2. Down 19 midway through the second quarter, the Hawks rallied and cut it to a 64-61 deficit at halftime. They got down 12 early in the third but fought back again, a lob from Young to Collins making it a four-point game with 7:58 left in the quarter, but could never gain the lead, giving up 101 points before the fourth quarter had even started. The fourth got out of hand, the deficit reaching 19 after a 3-pointer by LeBron James (32 points, nine assists, eight rebounds) with 9:52 left, again highlighting the Hawks’ defensive issues. For the Lakers, Malik Monk went 7-12 from 3-point range and finished with a season-high 29 points, Avery Bradley added 21 points and six rebounds, Talen Horton-Tucker added 21 points and five rebounds and Carmelo Anthony added 17 points and seven rebounds. Dating back to its loss to Charlotte Dec. 5, Atlanta has now given up 130-plus points seven times in 15 games.

“As far as the defensive end, it’s more about effort and just your want and a lot of it’s game plan,” Young said. “So those two things go hand-in-hand and I think we’ve got to do better on both of them. We’ve got to want it more.”

3. The Hawks’ 15 turnovers proved to be costly – the Lakers capitalized with 28 points (adding 24 fast-break points). Young had a season-high nine turnovers, with Bogdanovic adding two.

4. With his 17th straight game of scoring 25-plus points, Young officially broke Dominique Wilkins’ franchise record of 16. Young neared a triple-double with 25 points, 14 assists and nine rebounds, but his turnovers were costly.

“I had way too many turnovers tonight,” Young said. “I was seeing things and they were getting hands and deflections, and we’ve got guys just, we were trying to find stuff in transition but guys were on the same side; it was a lot of miscommunication and stuff like that throughout the game. But yeah, it’s too many turnovers, I can’t have that many turnovers.”

5. One game after Kevin Huerter came off the bench to lead the Hawks in scoring in their win vs. the Kings, he had another solid shooting game as a reserve, finishing with 16 points and going 4-6 from 3.

Stat of the game: 14 (the amount of steals the Lakers tallied, helping force the Hawks into 15 turnovers)

Star of the game: James (led the Lakers in scoring with 32 points, adding three blocks and four steals on defense)

Quotable: “Basically, you can just say they scored on every turnover… They were killers. And a lot of them, they are, we don’t even get a chance to defend.” (acting head coach Joe Prunty, at the helm with Nate McMillan in health and safety protocols, on the Hawks’ turnovers)