New-look Hawks work to continue ascent vs. Lakers
On their best run of success in nearly two months, the Atlanta Hawks will bring a three-game winning streak and a new look into Tuesday night's road game against the Los Angeles Lakers.
The Hawks turned the team debut of CJ McCollum and Corey Kispert into a 124-111 road victory over the Golden State Warriors on Sunday. The two were acquired from the Washington Wizards last week for Trae Young and combined for 14 points and seven assists off the bench.
McCollum was one of six Atlanta players to reach double digits in points, led by 24 from Nickeil Alexander-Walker and 23 points with 11 rebounds from Jalen Johnson.
"(McCollum) has a great feel for the game, and you don't have to be around him that long to get that sense," Hawks coach Quin Snyder said. "He leads by example, and you feel that on the court."
Atlanta's Luke Kennard had a season-high 22 points off the bench while going 6 of 9 from 3-point range. His nine attempts from beyond the arc were a season high. Los Angeles-area native Onyeka Okongwu had 18 points and 12 rebounds ahead of his homecoming.
"(Kennard) can obviously shoot the ball, but I thought it was how aggressive he was getting up that volume (of 3-pointers)," Snyder said. "... That mentality is something that, in part, you make more of them when you are that aggressive."
Kristaps Porzingis (Achilles) and Zaccharie Risacher (knee) each have missed the past two games for Atlanta because of injuries.
The Lakers will return home following a 124-112 road loss to the Sacramento Kings on Monday, Los Angeles' third straight defeat.
Luka Doncic scored 42 points and LeBron James added 22 for the Lakers, but starters Jake LaRavia and Marcus Smart combined for only three points on 1-of-12 shooting from the field and 0-of-8 from 3-point range.
Los Angeles hit 22.2% from long distance, while the Kings shot 65.4%.
"We were 28th before tonight in opponent 3-point percentage. We'll be 29th or 30th after tonight," Lakers coach JJ Redick said. "We had 50 potential assists tonight, and we converted on 21 of those. ... This has been the theme. Just have to keep shooting, I guess."
While turnovers had been an area of concern of late, the Lakers had just 10 on Monday, tied for their third-lowest total of the season.
Rui Hachimura (calf) was available Monday but did not play as he missed his seventh consecutive game. He is expected to see limited action against the Hawks. Redick said multiple factors came into play in his decision to not use his forward Monday.
"He was only available for one game (of a back-to-back set), and we didn't know that until the morning," Redick said. "And it was a severe minutes restriction, so it made sense to play him (Tuesday)."
Austin Reaves (calf) remains out for Los Angeles after missing eight consecutive games.
The Hawks earned a 122-102 home victory over the Lakers on Nov. 8 to start a season-best five-game winning streak as Mouhamed Gueye scored a career-high 21 points and Risacher had 19. Doncic had 22 points for the Lakers, his second-lowest scoring game of the season when playing more than 20 minutes.