Doncic's 32-8-10 leads Lakers past Hawks 124-114

Luka Doncic scored 32 points, grabbed 8 rebounds and dished 10 assists and the Los Angeles Lakers beat the Atlanta Hawks 124-114 on Monday night, ESPN reported. Dyson Daniels led the Hawks with 10 points, 6 rebounds and 8 assists.

The Lakers improved to 10-2, tied with the Spurs for the best record in the Western Conference. The Hawks fell to 7-5 and have lost two of three. The game was played at State Farm Arena in Atlanta.

Doncic’s line was his sixth double-double of the season and his fourth with 30 or more points. He shot 12 of 22 from the field and 4 of 9 from three. He controlled the game from the opening tip, scoring or assisting on 14 of the Lakers’ first 18 baskets.

The Lakers acquired Doncic from Dallas in February in the trade that sent Anthony Davis to the Mavericks and Cooper Flagg to Dallas via the draft. The trade was the most controversial in NBA history, and the Lakers have won 75% of their games since Doncic arrived. He is averaging 28.4 points, 9.1 rebounds and 8.7 assists this season, and the Lakers’ offense is scoring 118.6 points per 100 possessions with him on the floor, third in the league.

LeBron James is 41 and in his 23rd season. He is averaging 21.3 points, 7.8 rebounds and 8.1 assists, and he has accepted a secondary role behind Doncic. James initiates the offense in the first quarter, Doncic takes over in the second and fourth, and coach JJ Redick staggers their minutes so one of them is always on the floor. The arrangement has worked. The Lakers are 10-2 and James has not missed a game.

Austin Reaves has been the third scorer. He is averaging 18.7 points and shooting 41% from three, both career highs. He and Doncic have developed a two-man game on the wing that has been the Lakers’ most efficient action. Doncic finds Reaves on the weak side when the defense commits to him, and Reaves is shooting 47% on those catch-and-shoot threes. The Lakers signed Reaves to a four-year, $56 million extension before the season, and he has outperformed it.

The Hawks’ offense was supposed to be better this season. They traded Dejounte Murray to New Orleans in the offseason and replaced him with Daniels, the 21-year-old Australian guard they acquired from the Pelicans in the same deal. Daniels is a Defensive Player of the Year candidate who leads the league in steals, but his offense has not developed. He is averaging 11.2 points on 42% shooting and his three-point percentage is 31. He cannot space the floor, and the Lakers sagged off him to help on Trae Young.

Young scored 26 points and had 9 assists but shot 9 of 24 from the field. He and Daniels do not complement each other the way Young and Murray did. Murray was a scorer who could run the offense when Young sat. Daniels is a defender who cannot. The Hawks’ offense drops from 116.8 per 100 with Young on the floor to 102.3 with him off, the largest drop in the league. Young is playing 35 minutes a night because Atlanta has no other creator.

The Lakers’ defense was the question coming into the season. They lost Davis in the Doncic trade and replaced him with Jaxson Hayes, who is a rim-runner but not a rim-protector. Hayes has been adequate. He blocks 1.4 shots per game and the Lakers’ defense is 12th in the league, down from fourth last season but good enough to win. The drop-off is on the perimeter, where Max Christie has replaced Cam Johnson in the starting lineup and has been targeted by opposing guards.

Redick has been a revelation as a first-year coach. He installed an offense that uses more threes and less mid-range, and the Lakers’ effective field goal percentage is 57%, second in the league. He has managed James’ minutes better than Frank Vogel or Darvin Ham did, and James is on pace to play 70 games for the first time since 2018. Redick was a controversial hire because he had no coaching experience, and the early returns are that the Lakers made the right call, as ESPN’s Tim MacMahon reported.

The Hawks are 7-5 and in the mix for a play-in spot in the East. They have beaten the Celtics and the Bucks and lost to the Lakers and the Spurs. They are good enough to compete and not good enough to win. The Daniels trade was supposed to fix the defense, and it has. Atlanta is seventh in defensive rating, up from 18th last season. But the offense has gone from 10th to 21st, and the net result is a team that is about where it was.

What I think

The Lakers are the best team in the Western Conference and I am not sure it is close. Doncic and James are the best pick-and-roll pair in the league, Reaves is the best third option they have had since the 2020 championship team, and Redick is running an offense that gets the most out of all of them. The defense is not great, but it does not need to be great when you score 118 per 100 possessions. The Spurs and the Warriors are playing well, but the Lakers have the best player and the best coach and the best record.

The Hawks made a bet on Daniels and it is a bet that has not paid off yet. He is a terrific defender, one of the best in the league, but you cannot win in the modern NBA with a guard who shoots 31% from three. Young needs space and Daniels does not provide it. The Hawks are a play-in team, and they are going to stay there until they find a guard who can defend and shoot.