Jalen Johnson soars but Hawks are routed by Lakers

“The situation,” Johnson said. “If he’s standing in the restricted area, going through my head is to just go up and dunk it.”

Johnson would hit a one-handed windmill dunk, a reverse baseline dunk and ended the first half with 17 points. He scored 25 points in the game but left after hurting his ankle while landing on the foot of teammate Clint Capela in the fourth quarter.

Following the game, Johnson left the locker room with his ankle taped and walked without any assistance.

2. The Hawks looked fresh despite playing a night earlier, getting out on an 11-2 run where they controlled the game’s flow. But the Lakers quickly recovered by going on an 11-2 run of their own as they fed Anthony Davis early.

The Lakers’ center scored layup after layup before Reaves attacked the basket and drew a foul, forcing the Hawks to call a timeout.

But Davis and the Lakers did not let up, with the future Hall of Famer scoring 11 points in the first quarter alone. He finished with 22 points and 15 rebounds.

3. Davis had plenty of help from 20-time NBA All-Star LeBron James, who scored 12 points in his first seven minutes. James ended the night with 25 points and 10 assists and stretched the Hawks’ defense to its limit when he was on the floor.

With James in the game, the Hawks had to pick their poison as he opened up looks when they sent help to defend him. The Lakers had a balanced offense throughout the night, with the first six players in their rotation scoring 10 or more points in the game.

“There’s two Hall of Fame players that were unselfish,” Hawks coach Quin Snyder said. “And they played really well. It’s hard to sustain a defensive effort against the team that is playing the way they are offensively.”

4. Onyeka Okongwu returned to the Hawks’ rotation for the first time in 12 games. The big man had been recovering from a left big toe sprain and he entered the night with a minutes restriction. Ahead of the game, Snyder said that the team would keep Okongwu in the game for anywhere between 15-20 minutes.

It took him a few possessions to gain his bearings, especially with his first minutes matching him up against Davis. But he ended the night with 11 points and four rebounds in 19 minutes.

“Felt good just in general, especially being from L.A.,” Okongwu said. “Also like (Bruno Fernando) says ‘ain’t no rust.’ But I felt good, a little fatigued. But in the second half, got my wind back. So I felt like I didn’t miss any time at all.

5. With the Hawks trying to get their defense going, they had a number of moments where their offense fell stagnant when the ball stopped moving. Though the Hawks had 32 assists by the end of the night, there were moments when they struggled to see the ball go through the net.

The Hawks opened the game making three of their first four shots from long range. The Hawks ran hot in their last two games, where they shot 50% or better. But on Monday, they came back to Earth, going just 9-of-41 from 3.

“It’s something we’ve really talked about, worked on,” Snyder said.

While they wanted to attack in transition, the Hawks though just could not execute with just 17% of their plays starting in transition, per Cleaning the Glass.

But with close to 75% of their plays beginning in the half court, the Hawks needed to make the most out of their possessions. They did not though, as they averaged 95.2 points per 100 half-court plays.

Stat to know

500 -- With his first field goal made, Jalen Johnson reached 500 in his career.

Quotable

“You don’t want my view!” -- Lakers guard Austin Reaves said of Jalen Johnson’s dunk over him.

Up next

The Hawks head to Phoenix where they face the Suns Thursday in the final game of their five-game, 10-day road trip.