Hawks at Lakers
The Los Angeles Lakers may be having a second straight down season but they are still tough for the Atlanta Hawks to defeat. Atlanta will try to end an eight-game road losing streak against the Lakers when the teams meet on Sunday in Los Angeles. The drought isn’t just in Los Angeles as the Lakers posted a 114-109 victory over the Hawks on Nov. 8 when the teams met in Atlanta.
The struggling Lakers have lost six of their last seven games, including a 101-94 loss to the New York Knicks that disturbed Los Angeles coach Byron Scott. “I think we were just selfish as a basketball team,” Scott told reporters. “I think a lot of our guys came in here looking at New York thinking ‘this is going to be an easy win so I’m going to get my points,’ which showed in our shooting percentage.” The Hawks posted a 96-87 victory over the Phoenix Suns on Friday and the contest against the Lakers is the third of a six-game road trip.
TV: 9:30 p.m. ET, SportSouth (Atlanta), TWC SportsNet (Los Angeles)
ABOUT THE HAWKS (51-14): Point guard Jeff Teague has scored just eight points in each of the last two games and was 4-of-13 shooting in Friday’s 98-87 victory over Phoenix. Teague averaged 19 points in a four-game span before the mini-slump and also has four or fewer assists in three of the last six games. Teague has 41 career double-doubles with Atlanta, which ties with Eddie Johnson and Jason Terry for fourth place in franchise history.
ABOUT THE LAKERS (17-47): Scott’s frustration level has grown and surfaced through his terse words, and the players are well aware of the situation. “When he feels like we played (poorly), he lets us know,” rookie point guard Jordan Clarkson told reporters. “There’s been a few times this year. We always come back the next game and put the pedal down and make sure we don’t make the same mistakes.” Los Angeles needs to win 10 of its last 18 games to equal last season’s 27-55 record, which was the worst since the franchise moved from Minnesota to Los Angeles in 1960.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. Atlanta’s last road win against the Lakers was a 114-110 victory on Feb. 15, 2006.
2. Clarkson has scored in double digits in nine straight games.
3. Hawks SG Kyle Korver is eight 3-pointers away from joining Mookie Blaylock (twice) as the only players in franchise history with more than 200 in a season.