LOS ANGELES — The Lakers didn’t look like a team dealing with the circumstances they had been the last couple of days in their 136-105 blowout win over the Atlanta Hawks on Monday night at Crypto.com Arena.
Despite coming off their first pair of consecutive losses in 1½ months, and the news that yet another player on their team could miss significant time because of an injury, the Lakers came out with the necessary focus to make sure their losing streak didn’t extend to three games.
LeBron James (25 points, 10 assists, seven rebounds) and Anthony Davis (22 points, 12 rebounds and six assists), who was available after suffering a left corneal abrasion in Saturday’s home loss to the Golden State Warriors, led the Lakers (37-32) early after a slow start.
And it was the shotmaking from D’Angelo Russell (27 points, 10 assists, four rebounds) in the second half that gave the Lakers the spark they needed to essentially make the final quarter noncompetitive, with the Lakers taking a 111-86 lead into the fourth and cruising to their 13th win in the past 20 games.
With Rui Hachimura (17 points) and Austin Reaves (12 points, six rebounds, four assists) also reaching double figures, every Lakers scored at least 12 points on a night when they had 39 assists.
Max Christie added 11 points off the bench, with all of the players who were in the Lakers’ main rotation all scoring at least one basket.
The Hawks (30-38), who have been without All-Star guard Trae Young (torn ligament in finger on left hand) since late February, struggled to keep the Lakers from getting inside, with the Lakers scoring 68 points in the paint.
The Lakers outplayed the Hawks in nearly every facet of the game, shooting 57.8% from the field (52 for 90), 41.7% from 3-point range (15 for 36), scoring 23 fast-break points and getting 33 points from their bench, which got extended playing time in light of the blowout.
Davis didn’t sat out the entire fourth quarter with the game already…
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