Lakers ride Mamukelashvili and bench to 124-114 win in Atlanta, sixth straight
Sandro Mamukelashvili scored 23 off the bench and Luka Doncic added 32 as the Lakers won in Atlanta for their sixth straight win and moved to 10-2.
The Los Angeles Lakers won their second straight road game on consecutive nights with a short roster, beating the Atlanta Hawks 124-114 on Monday. The win runs their streak to six games and lifts them to 10-2. Austin Reaves sat out, and according to SB Nation's Silver Screen and Roll, the bench had its best night of the season to make up for him.
Sandro Mamukelashvili led that group. He scored 23 points on 7-of-13 shooting, made five of his eight 3-pointers and added eight rebounds. He was a +20 for the night, and Silver Screen and Roll's player grades called it his best game as a Laker, noting that he kept scoring while Luka Doncic sat. Fadeaway World pointed out that he did all of that without a turnover. Collin Sexton gave the Lakers 18 points and six assists off the bench, and Ziaire Williams scored 12.
Doncic was back after missing one game with lower back tightness, ESPN reported. He had 32 points, eight rebounds, 10 assists and five steals. Walker Kessler finished with 21 points and 10 rebounds. ESPN counted three alley-oop dunks for Kessler that came off Sexton drives.
Atlanta led by eight in the first quarter. The Lakers had moved ahead by nine when the quarter ended, and a 28-9 run that carried into the second pushed the lead as high as 20. The Hawks kept coming back. They cut it to 11 by halftime and to two early in the fourth. Dyson Daniels made it 115-111 with 3:30 to go, but the Lakers scored the next six points, with Doncic adding a driving layup and an assist, and Atlanta did not get closer. The Lakers forced 20 turnovers and turned them into 29 points, and they outscored the Hawks 52-42 in the paint.
What it means for Milwaukee
The Lakers have Tuesday off before they play the Bucks in Milwaukee on Wednesday, November 11. They have scored 116 or more points in each game of the winning streak, about 126 per game across the six, and have given up about 115.5. They have lost only twice, to Portland at home 136-129 and at Golden State 112-95. The Lakers are 5-1 away from home if their road game against the Clippers is counted.
The last two nights showed that the team can keep winning when stars are missing. They beat Detroit 121-116 without Doncic and then beat Atlanta without Reaves. Whether Reaves is available on Wednesday is the main thing to watch. Monday also showed where Los Angeles is vulnerable: the Lakers led by 20 and still let the Hawks back into the game twice, mostly because Atlanta's 3-point shooting caught fire. A Milwaukee team at home is likely to punish those lapses more than Atlanta did, so the Lakers will need the same depth again.
The Lakers will want more of what they got from their bench in Atlanta. Every reserve but one scored by the middle of the second quarter, and Mamukelashvili and Sexton kept making plays late, which let Doncic and Kessler set the pace without carrying the whole load. Wednesday will show whether that balance holds up over a stretch of road games.