Lakers Beat Hawks Without Reaves and Grimes, Stretch Win Streak to Six
Luka Doncic, Walker Kessler and a deep bench carried the shorthanded Lakers past Atlanta 124-114 for a sixth straight win and a 10-2 record.
The Lakers got through the second half of a road back-to-back without two of their regular guards on Monday night. They beat the Atlanta Hawks 124-114 for their sixth straight win and moved to 10-2. One night after Austin Reaves scored 43 to beat Detroit while Luka Doncic sat out, the two traded places. Reaves missed the game with an illness, and Doncic came back from the low back tightness that had kept him out on Sunday.
The Los Angeles Times reported that Doncic shot poorly but still finished with 32 points, 10 assists, eight rebounds and five steals. ESPN noted that the total ended a run of four straight games with 40 or more, and that Doncic still leads the league at 40.1 points per game. Walker Kessler had 21 points and 10 rebounds, his sixth double-double in seven games. Sandro Mamukelashvili scored 23 off the bench.
Quentin Grimes also sat out after spraining a finger on his right hand against the Pistons. Coach JJ Redick told the Times that X-rays were negative and that Grimes could be back as soon as the Milwaukee game. With both guards out, Collin Sexton ran the offense when Doncic rested. Sexton, an Atlanta native, had eight points and three assists in the second quarter. His pick-and-roll work with Kessler, his former Utah teammate, produced back-to-back alley-oops, and his 3-pointer with 4:45 left put the Lakers up seven.
The Lakers opened a 20-point lead midway through the second quarter, helped by a 13-0 run. According to Silver Screen and Roll, they scored 29 points off 20 Atlanta turnovers and outscored the Hawks 52-42 in the paint. Rookie Cameron Carr, the team's first-round pick, played his first rotation minutes and started the fourth quarter. He scored his first NBA basket on a two-handed dunk off an outlet pass from Doncic. Second-year forward Adou Thiero, who made his season debut two games ago after left knee swelling, also played late. The Hawks fell to 7-5.
What it means for Milwaukee
The Lakers play next on Wednesday at Milwaukee, the last stop of a road swing that has already produced wins in Detroit and Atlanta. They are 5-1 away from home this season. Their only road loss was a 112-95 defeat at Golden State on the night before this streak started. They are also 5-1 at home, and both losses came against teams from the West. One was the 112-95 loss to the Warriors, and the other was a 136-129 home loss to Portland, which they avenged with a 124-118 win last week.
The winning streak has been built on offense. The Lakers have averaged about 125.7 points during the six wins and allowed about 115.5. That works out to a margin of roughly 10 points per game, compared with about 7.7 over the full 12 games. The wins have not all come easily, though. Three of the six were decided by six points or fewer, including the five-point win in Detroit.
The main question before Milwaukee is who will be available. Reaves's illness and Grimes's finger will decide how much the Lakers lean on Sexton and the bench again. They have now won a game without Doncic and a game without Reaves on consecutive nights. Follow the rest of the season on our Lakers team page.