In the early morning of January 31, Beijing time, the Los Angeles Lakers welcomed their last opponent in the eastern six consecutive games, the Atlanta Hawks. In this campaign, the Lakers James is still absent due to a left knee injury, Davis and Westbrook are responsible for leading, and Malik Munch, who was absent in the last game, returned and replaced Ellington as the starter. The Eagles are elite. The two teams fought for four quarters, and the Hawks, who were finally at home, won 129-121.
Compared with the last game against the Hornets, the Lakers undoubtedly took the initiative to take the initiative. At one point, the 11-point lead was gained early in the halftime, and after the third quarter, the Lakers still held a double-digit lead. The shift came at the end of the third quarter, when the thick-browed man chased Collins' good ball and was blown into a foul on the batter, leaving the former with an unusually puzzled and frightened expression. Coming forward to question the referee but eating a technical foul, it can be said that the loss of the wife and the folding of the soldiers.
The Eagles in the fourth quarter chased and blew the horn of counterattack, and Trae Young scored 13 points in the quarter, including a valuable three-pointer in the final key moment. In terms of employment, Eagles coach McMillan is also fantastical and eclectic, the two major starting interior lines John Collins and Clint Capela have been abandoned, Collins only got 3 minutes to play, and Caraillon was sitting on the bench in the last quarter. Second-year show Okongu was entrusted with a heavy responsibility to play the fourth quarter, but he did not expect this change to reap miraculous results, and the young man was on the inside line, and all the shots in the single quarter scored 12 points. The internal and external combination of him and Yang Shaoxia is the absolute hero of the Eagle's ability to reverse.
On the Lakers side, AD contributed 27 points, 5 rebounds and 4 assists, and Wei Shao sent 20 points, 7 rebounds and 12 assists, if the game only has three quarters, then their performance is perfect, the problem is that when the other side started in the fourth quarter, the two All-Star level players did not give their own response.
Malik Munch returned to the starting lineup to regain the momentum of his comeback in late December and early January, when he had 33 points and 10 rebounds, including eight three-pointers, including 33 of which were his season highs. Munch shot 11-of-13 in the first three quarters, and his bounce on the outside became the Eagles' nightmare. In the fourth quarter, the Lakers' physical strength declined, Munch's efficiency also declined, and the outside projection returned to normal levels. But without James in the seat, it would be difficult to win the game if everyone was just a decent performance. The Lakers' last goal came from Munch's three-pointer with 1:52 left in the game, and the team hasn't made any progress since. The purge-free Purple gold legion watched the Eagles score eight points from 121 to a tie, instantly losing suspense in the game.
This game has given Lakers fans hope for some team recovery, with Thick Brow and Westbrook able to play at certain times of the game, and role players such as Munch getting better and can provide enough help for star players. But the weakness of the key moments made the whole team look forward to the 30-year-old man who suffered from a sore knee injury - if LeBron James was in this game, I am afraid that the Eagles would not complete the reversal so easily in the fourth quarter. Again, the strength of the healthy Lakers is beyond doubt, but the biggest problem of this sunset red team is how to keep the whole team healthy.
The end of the game against the Hawks meant the end of the Lakers' six-game away game schedule for the East, who only finished 2-4 after back-to-back games against the Magic, Heat, Nets, Philadelphia, Hornets and Hawks, a little lower than the expected 50% win rate. If James had been able to play, if certain games had been handled more properly, the Purple and Gold Would have been able to deliver a more satisfying answer sheet for the fans.
Considering that there is still a certain distance from the 10th-ranked Blazers, the Lakers still have some room for adjustment, but they can't let their guard down, the sweet schedule of the first half of the season did not accumulate enough advantages for them, after the All-Star Weekend, all teams will sprint hard, which will be the real test for the Purple and Gold Army.