The Los Angeles Lakers just got run out of the building in Atlanta. Despite entering Thursday night with a five-game win streak (and the return of Maxi Kleber), the purple and gold came crashing back down to earth in a 122 to 102 blowout loss to the Hawks. They were outscored in three of four quarters and gave up 30 or more points in both the second and third frames as the game quickly got out of hand.
“Lakers are now 7-3. At least we’re still going to be in the second seed, but damn we got blown out by the Hawks without Trae Young,” wrote a disgruntled Lakers fan on X.
Luka Doncic led the Lakers with 22 points, five rebounds, and 11 assists on 41.2 percent shooting. Dalton Knecht provided a spark off the bench with 14 points on 45.5 percent shooting and four rebounds, while Jarred Vanderbilt added 12 points, 18 rebounds, and two assists on 44.4 percent shooting in what might have been his best game of the season. Still, it wasn’t nearly enough.
“I’m still disgusted. OKC would never lose to a version of the Hawks and to the magnitude we did tonight. That’s the difference between a playoff team and a championship roster. At halftime we had 4 bench points so bad,” posted another fan.
Atlanta had seven players score in double figures, but it was rookie Mouhamed Gueye who set the tone with 21 points, seven rebounds, and seven assists. Zaccharie Risacher added 19 points, four assists, and two steals, while reserve Vit Krejci exploded for 17 points, three rebounds, and one assist on 42.9 percent shooting to help the Hawks pull away in the second half.
Losses like this are inevitable over the course of an 82-game season, especially for a team missing several crucial players. LeBron James and Austin Reaves were both out. At 7-3, the Lakers are still in a good position overall. What bothered fans tonight was the total lack of effort across the rotation.
“The Lakers have shown zero grit or desire to win this game,” wrote an angry Lakers fan. “No defense, too many blunders, terrified to shoot the ball (why??)”
Lakers Nation tends to overreact to every loss, but this one was particularly brutal. With 19 turnovers and just 45 percent shooting against a short-handed Hawks team, it’s safe to say all those early-season positive vibes have been wiped away.
“Lakers grabbed all those good vibes from that five-game winning streak and threw them right in the trash with this pathetic performance tonight,” wrote one fan.
Ultimately, while it’s just one loss, every game counts in the West, where at least six teams have a claim to win the conference. If the Lakers want to avoid a risky situation later, they cannot afford to lose games like this when they have such a clear advantage.
“This is the first opportunity of the season that the Lakers clearly let slip away,” stated one fan. “It’s defeats like this that take the team out of contention for high seeds.”
After tonight’s defeat, the Lakers get the rest of the weekend off before a visit to Charlotte on Monday for a game against the Hornets. It remains to be seen how they will respond to tonight’s disaster, but at least they will have Austin Reaves back to give them a much-needed boost.
It’s easy to shrug this off as a bad night, but the Lakers have to clean things up quickly. The margin for error in the West is razor-thin, and games like this are the ones that come back to haunt you in April. If the Lakers want to be taken seriously as contenders, these lapses cannot happen again.
