The Los Angeles Lakers bench impresses as they route the Atlanta Hawks 109-94. The Lakers finally got back into the win column after back-to-back horrific losses against the Golden State Warriors.
Jose Calderon started in place of D'Angelo Russel who did not play because of a knee injury that will force him to miss two more weeks. Julius Randle also missed time because of a hip injury. Lakers coach Luke Walton went for a different look for his starting lineup. He brought back Brandon Ingram to the bench and inserted Thomas Robinson in the power forward spot.
The Lakers bench dismantled the Hawks bench 65-24. The bench, led by Lou Williams' 21 points and Jordan Clarkson's 18, even outscored their own starters who scored just 44 points.
The Hawks stormed the Lakers early in the first quarter and went on to build a 32-21 lead after the first quarter. The Lakers rallied back in the second quarter and got their first taste of the lead at 38-39 after a 22-6 run. They went on to outscore the Hawks in that period 35-16 and built an eight-point lead by halftime.
"The energy that the second unit brought on the defensive end in the second quarter changed the outcome of that game," Walton said. "It was really the firs time that we saw all five guys on the court talking defensively," he added.
The Lakers didn't look back since then and always had an answer every time the Hawks seemed like they were about to start a run. In the fourth period, Lou Williams took over and scored 13 of his 21 points in that period to seal the Lakers' ninth win of the season and second against the Hawks in the 2016-17 NBA season.
The Lakers were aggressive the entire game and played with a lot of energy. They also got to the foul line often. They shot 20 free throw attempts and made 17 compared to the Hawks' 10 attempts where they made just four. They also outmuscled the Hawks in the rebound department by grabbing 15 more rebounds 53-38.
The Hawks suffered their second blowout after they got crushed by the Utah Jazz 68-95. They struggled to find offense outside of their starting lineup and only Mike Muscala, Tim Hardaway JR., and Malcolm Delaney scored four points or more for the Hawks bench. They even managed to limit Paul Millsap to just nine points.
