Hawks-Lakers Preview

By BRETT HUSTON
Posted Feb 13 2012 4:15PM

The Atlanta Hawks have had a habit of barely showing up against some of the NBA's better teams, a trend that was readily apparent their last time out against perhaps the league's most talented squad.

As long as they're playing at Staples Center, the Los Angeles Lakers certainly belong in that same upper echelon.

The Hawks open a five-game trip Tuesday night against the Lakers, who return from their own lengthy road swing looking to win for a 12th time in 14 home games.

It seemed like Atlanta's penchant for wilting against better opponents was a thing of the past after consecutive wins over Indiana and Orlando last week, but it lost 107-87 to visiting Miami on Sunday in a game in which it trailed by as many as 32.

The Hawks (18-10) have 13 wins against sub-.500 opponents by an average of 15.1 points, but the loss to the Heat was something all too familiar for coach Larry Drew's team. Atlanta's nine losses to clubs with winning records have come by an average of 13.1 points, and it's fallen behind by at least 20 in its last five defeats overall.

"We just didn't compete. You can't have that in this league," said Joe Johnson, who has averaged 13.3 points in the Hawks' losses and 20.9 in their wins. "You would think everyone would come out prepared to battle for 48 minutes, but it seems as if we just didn't want it."

The Lakers' problems haven't been as much about the quality of their opponent - they're 8-9 against above-.500 teams - as they've been about where they're playing.

But after starting 2-7 on the road, Los Angeles (16-12) salvaged a split of a six-game trip Sunday in Toronto thanks to Kobe Bryant. After the Lakers blew an 18-point lead and were trailing by four in the final minute, the league's leading scorer had six of his 27 points, a steal and an assist to help secure a 94-92 win.

"We are a poor road team and that is what we need to turn around," Bryant said. "If we could figure out a way to win on the road our record would be much, much better. We are a very good home team."

That's largely due to defense. The 85.2 points per game the Lakers allow at Staples are by far the fewest in the Western Conference and 10.6 less than they surrender on the road.

Offensively, though, Los Angeles' role players simply tend to knock down shots at home. Bryant, Andrew Bynum and Pau Gasol's numbers vary little, but Steve Blake and Matt Barnes are averaging a combined 18.0 points and shooting 47.2 percent at Staples compared to 10.5 points and 34.9 percent on the road.

The Lakers have scored at least 96 points in nine of their 13 home games, a number they've reached just twice on the road.

The Hawks have the NBA's best road defense, however, surrendering 89.3 points per game and 42.0 percent shooting. They've held opponents to five points fewer than that during four consecutive road wins while shooting 47.3 percent from 3-point range.

Recent history is against those hallmarks following Atlanta into Staples Center. The Hawks have lost five straight road games to the Lakers by an average of 17.0 points, allowing 109.2 points per game while shooting 25.0 percent from long distance.

Josh Smith has been held to 8.8 points on 37.2 percent shooting in the last four of that stretch.

Lakers beat Hawks 86-78 behind Gasol's late surge

Posted Feb 15 2012 2:10AM

LOS ANGELES (AP) The days of high-scoring games and one-sided victories are basically over for the Los Angeles Lakers under new coach Mike Brown, who is still in the process of learning his roster and adjusting to individual matchups with a less-than-stellar bench at his disposal.

Pau Gasol scored seven of his 20 points in the final 5:20 and grabbed 13 rebounds, and the Lakers beat the Atlanta Hawks 86-78 on Tuesday night despite another poor first half by Kobe Bryant.

"I thing we've done a decent job of controlling the tempo, because most of our games - whether we win or lose - are like 92-89. So everybody's playing at our pace right now," said Brown, whose team has recorded 12 of its 17 wins by margins of eight points or fewer. "It's just a matter of us executing to the point where we get some good looks.

"We've had some wide-open looks in some of those games that we lost, so I know we can execute better than we have done and I know we can shoot better than we have - especially from the 3-point line."

Andrew Bynum had 15 points and 15 rebounds for the Lakers, who returned from a 3-3 road trip and improved to 12-2 at home - compared to 5-10 away. Bryant, whose jumper in the final 5 seconds beat Toronto on Sunday, finished this one with only 10 points in 34 minutes on 5 for 18 shooting.

"When you come back from that kind of trip, your body doesn't feel as it usually does," Gasol said. "With the time difference and everything, it takes a game to get yourself back to normal. But we fought through it, pushed ourselves and found a way to win this game against a very quality team."

Bryant, who missed 10 of his first 11 shots against the New York Knicks last Friday in a 92-85 loss, was 1 for 10 from the field in the first half against Atlanta. But he made four of his first five after intermission, helping Los Angeles take a 59-51 lead into the fourth quarter.

The 14-time All-Star and two-time scoring champ, who turns 34 years old on Aug. 23, came in leading the NBA with a 29.2 average. The oldest player to win a league scoring title was Michael Jordan, who was 35 years and 61 days old when he finished the 1997-98 campaign with a league-best 28.7 average in his final season with the Chicago Bulls.

The Lakers' annual Grammy road trip was an eventful one for Bryant, who overtook Shaquille O'Neal for fifth place on the career scoring list in his hometown of Philadelphia - and became the 10th player to make 10,000 field goals in the NBA with a 3-pointer on his final shot in the Lakers' loss at New York.

The Hawks shot just 34.4 percent in the opener of a five-game trip. Jeff Teague led them with 18 points, and All-Star Joe Johnson was held to 15 in 37 minutes on 7 for 17 shooting. Josh Smith, still smarting from his All-Star sub, also scored 15.

"We couldn't buy a shot," Atlanta coach Larry Drew said. "I don't know how many layups we missed. We just missed a ton of point-blank shots, and we turned the ball over at come crucial times. Obviously you can look at our stats and see that their size and length did affect us, but we gave it our best shot."

It was the only meeting this season between the teams, due to the lockout-shortened, 66-game schedule. The last time Atlanta won the season series was 1978-79, when it took three of four under coach Hubie Brown.

Steve Blake, playing his first home game since returning from an injury, made a 23-footer and a 3-pointer 67 seconds apart to give the Lakers a 74-62 lead with 5:47 to play. Gasol scored their next seven points on a short jumper, a hook shot and a 3-pointer that gave Los Angeles its biggest lead, 81-64, with 3:38 remaining.

"We just couldn't make shots in the second half," Smith said. "There was a lid on the basket, for a long period of time, particularly in the third quarter. Whenever you can't make shots, you have to make it that much tougher for them to score as well."

The Lakers, who have scored 100 or more points in only three of their first 29 games, led 42-41 at halftime after Metta World Peace hit a 3-pointer with 2.3 seconds on the clock. It was the team's only field goal in 14 attempts during the final 6:39 of the second quarter - a drought that began after reserve swingman Troy Murphy's 3 gave them a 38-30 lead.

"We're not a high-octane team in terms of getting easy baskets in transition because we just don't have that type of player - not even in our first unit, which has two 7-footers," Brown said. "We're going to be a halfcourt-executing team, so we're not going to lead the league in fast-break points and there won't be a high number of possessions."

World Peace, who has started the last seven games, criticized Brown in an interview with CBSSports.com during the road trip because of the way he's been used. He said Brown was too consumed with individual statistics, and the two of them talked about it at Monday's practice.

"If I were him, I'd be frustrated, too," Brown said. "I told him: `I don't take anything personally. I'm OK with it. But if was a stats guy, Metta, you wouldn't be playing at all. I mean, look at your stats. And Synergy says you're the 192nd-best defensive player in the league. So if I was just a stats guy, the guy who should be playing at the small forward spot is Devin Ebanks - because he's shooting better than you or Matt (Barnes)."'

Former Laker Vladimir Radmanovic entered the game with 2:57 left in the first quarter and hit a pair of 3-pointers 68 seconds apart before Tracy McGrady beat the buzzer with another 3 to cut the Hawks' deficit to 27-24. Atlanta was 7 for 27 overall from behind the arc. The Lakers, who came in with a league-worst 39.1 percentage from 3-point range, were 8 for 17.

Reserve center Erick Dampier, playing in his third game with Atlanta after signing a 10-day contract last Thursday, was the first player off the Hawks' bench and played 16 scoreless minutes with four rebounds.

Notes: Tough Love Dept.: The Hawks are 0-6 against the Lakers in Los Angeles on Valentine's Day - including an 87-86 loss in 1996, when Magic Johnson posted his first triple-double since returning to the Lakers after announcing in 1991 that he was retiring because of the HIV virus. ... The Lakers also hosted Atlanta in their first game following last year's Grammy road trip, beating them 104-80. ... Since moving into Staples Center for the 1999-00 season, the Lakers have a .747 winning percentage during the regular season when they play a home game immediately following a road game (168-57). ... Bryant has had the Lakers' highest-scoring game against 18 of the league's other 29 franchises. But the most productive game by any Laker against the Hawks was by Elgin Baylor, who had back-to-back 52-point outings against the St. Louis Hawks during a three-day stretch in December 1961.

Notebook: Lakers 86, Hawks 78

Posted Wednesday February 15, 2012 1:48AM

By Dan Arritt, for NBA.com

THE FACTS: Pau Gasol's hand went up, Kobe Bryant's shots finally went down and the Lakers came from behind in the third quarter Tuesday night to defeat the Hawks, 86-78, in their first game back at Staples Center following a season-long six-game road trip.

QUOTABLE: "It was good basketball from the right people, even if it wasn't a good shooting night for us."
-- Lakers coach Mike Brown

THE STAT: The Lakers come in last in the league in 3-point shooting at 29.1 percent, while Atlanta came in third best at 39.2. However, it was the home team that got the best of that statistic, shooting 8-for-17 from beyond the arc, compared to 7-for-27 for the Hawks.

TURNING POINT: The Hawks opened the second half with an 8-2 run to take their biggest lead of the game, 49-44. Brown called timeout and the Lakers responded with a 12-0 run. Gasol blocked three of his four shots during the run and Bryant scored eight of his season-low 10 points. After Lakers back-up guard Andrew Goudelock sank a 3-pointer with 1:53 left in the quarter to give the Lakers their biggest lead of the game, 59-50, the Hawks never got closer than seven the rest of the way.

HOT: The Hawks had few answers for the Lakers' big men, as Gasol and Bynum each collected double-doubles. Gasol had 20 points and 13 rebounds and Bynum finished with 15 points and 15 rebounds, helping the Lakers to a 44-28 advantage in the paint.

NOT: Outside of the third-quarter run when Bryant was 4-for-7 from the floor, he couldn't make a basket, shooting 1-for-11 the rest of the game and committing five turnovers. It was Bryant's lowest-scoring game since netting nine points in a 93-81 victory at Philadelphia on Dec. 17, 2010. Brown did manage to limit Bryant's minutes, something he pledged to do before the game. Bryant, who came in averaging 38.4 minutes, second most in the league, played 35. ... The Hawks, who were starting a five-game road trip, did not make a field goal the final 8:33 of the third quarter, when they were outscored, 15-2. ... The Hawks shot a season-low 34.4 percent from the floor and matched their season low with 14 assists.

QUOTABLE II: "We couldn't buy a shot. I don't know how many layups we missed. We just missed a ton of point-blank shots."
-- Hawks coach Larry Drew

GOOD MOVE: Lakers forward Metta World Peace, who told a reporter in New York during the recent road trip that Brown put too much emphasis on statistics, likely brought out the three biggest cheers of the night. He paused and looked for another option before sinking a 3-pointer with two seconds remaining in the first half, giving the Lakers a one-point lead. In the game's closing minutes, he drove the basket and threw down a slam dunk, then sank another 3-point basket 43 seconds later, finishing with 10 points, only his fifth game in double digits this season.

BAD MOVE: Bynum still has a tendency to get caught flat footed under the basket. He stood and watched after Josh Smith missed a driving layup late in the first half. Marvin Williams grabbed the rebound and laid it back in to cap an 11-0 run and give the Hawks a 41-38 lead.

NOTABLE: The Hawks fell to 5-10 this season against teams with a .500 record or better. ... Joe Johnson scored 15 points for the Hawks, becoming the 13th player in franchise history to score 10,000 points in his career. He also became the 10th active NBA player to have at least 10,000 career points and 2,500 assists with the same team. ... Atlanta has lost six straight at Staples Center.

UP NEXT: For the Lakers, Friday vs. Phoenix, Sunday @ Phoenix, Monday vs. Portland. For the Hawks, Wednesday @ Phoenix, Saturday @ Portland, Monday @ Chicago.

• Hawks: Collins, Horford
• Lakers: Morris

• Hawks: --
• Lakers: --

• Lead Changes: 12
• Times Tied: 1

• Arena: Staples Center, Los Angeles, CA
• Officials: #41 Ken Mauer, #61 Courtney Kirkland, #44 Eli Roe
• Attendance: 18997
• Duration: 1:59