Atlanta Hawks drop home contest to Los Angeles Lakers, 114-109 (11/18/14)

In a dual defensive performance that would never make an instructional video on how to stop your opponent, the Atlanta Hawks dropped their home contest to the Los Angeles Lakers 114-109 at Philips Arena on Tuesday night.

Trailing 103-95 with three minutes left, the Hawks attempted a comeback that fell short. A dunk by Jeff Teague and three pointer from the left side by Paul Millsap cut the lead to 103-100 with 2:52 left. Kobe Bryant hit a hook shot with his left hand on the Lakers’ next possession to extend their lead to five points at the 2:20 mark of the fourth quarter.

A Thabo Sefolosha layup with 38 seconds left made the score 109-104. However, a Jordan Hill layup off of a Bryant miss pushed the lead to 111-104 with 17.7 left in the game.

The Lakers (2-9) shot 54 percent from the field in the game, which was a drop off from the 64 percent clip they were shooting at halftime. As expected, Bryant was Los Angeles’ leading scorer, putting up 28 points. The surprise performances for the Lakers was the frontcourt as Carlos Boozer scored 20 and Hill chipped in 18 points. Both also had a game-high 10 rebounds. Nick Young played his first game of the season and had 17 points off the bench for the Lakers. Even Jeremy Lin reached double-figures scoring, finishing the night with 15 points.

“I think we played tonight with a lot more energy on the defensive end,” Los Angeles coach Byron Scott said. “We did some really good things in the first half. In the second half, we kind of held on…We didn’t come out of the third quarter the way we would have liked to, but overall, our defense was much better than it has been in the last three or four games.”

Atlanta (5-5) struggled from the field, shooting only 48.2 percent from the field. The Hawks also had a rough nigh from the three-point line, making only nine out of 27 attempts. Paul Millsap had a game-high 29 points. Jeff Teague scored 23 points for Atlanta while Al Horford (15) and Sefolosha (10) were in double-figures. Sefolosha also had a team-high nine rebounds.

The Lakers had a strong start to the contest, shooting 50 percent from the field and had a 31-20 lead after the first quarter.

Los Angeles continued the hot shooting through the first half to take a 67-52 heading into the locker room. The Lakers shot 61 percent from the field including making five out of 10 three-pointer attempts. Bryant had a game-high 19 points while Boozer had 18 points and game-high seven rebounds in the first half.

“We dug ourselves too big of a hole tonight giving up 67 points in the first half,” Hawks’ coach Mike Budenholzer said. “Playing from behind the entire game was difficult. We were better in the second half, but you can’t put yourselves in that position.”

Atlanta’s Kyle Korver added about the team’s slow start; “We’ve done this a couple of times. We have to start being better and have more of a sense of urgency to start the game, and not just finish the game.”

Atlanta shot 51 percent from the field in the first half but made only three out of 12 three-pointer attempts and had seven turnovers. Millsap also had a game-high 19 first-half points. No other Hawks were in double-figures in scoring but Mike Scott and Teague had eight points each.

Atlanta scored the first 13 points of the third quarter and outscored the road team 31-24 to make the score 91-83 in favor of Los Angeles heading into the fourth quarter.

Notes:

-The Hawks allowed a season-high for points allowed (61) and shooting percentage (.614) in a half against Los Angeles.

-Atlanta’s 57 second-half points were a season-high.

-Millsap had a team-high four steals for Atlanta.

-Bryant surpassed the 32,000-point mark, and now has 32,001.

-Lin tallied his first double-double of the season with 15 points and a game-high 10 assists.