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- Luka Doncic finished with 32 points, 10 assists, eight rebounds and five steals as the Lakers defeated the Atlanta Hawks 124-114.
- Sandro Mamukelashvili scored 23 points off the bench and Walker Kessler finished with 21 points for the Lakers.
ATLANTA — Austin Reaves took the baton from Luka Doncic when Doncic sat out Sunday, and when the roles were reversed Monday, Doncic passed it to his teammates.
Doncic had 32 points and 10 assists in a 124-114 win over the Atlanta Hawks as the Lakers relied on their depth to secure their sixth consecutive win and stay atop the Western Conference despite a short, tired bench.
One night after sitting out because of lower-back tightness, Doncic struggled with his shot but reached double-digit assists for the third time this season. He also had eight rebounds and five steals. Lakers center Walker Kessler had 21 points with 10 rebounds, his sixth double-double in seven games, and forward Sandro Mamukelashvili had what coach JJ Redick called “his best game as a Laker” with 23 points and eight rebounds off the bench to help overcome the absences of Reaves and Quentin Grimes.
Austin Reaves scored a season-high 43 points as the Lakers survived a furious rally by the Pistons to win.
Reaves, who scored 43 points in a thrilling win at Detroit on Sunday, didn’t play because of illness. Grimes suffered a sprained finger on his right hand against Detroit, although Redick doesn’t anticipate the injury keeping the guard sidelined for long. X-rays were negative, Redick said, and Grimes could return as soon as Wednesday in Milwaukee.
The Lakers (10-2) didn’t look like a team playing on consecutive nights. They blitzed the Hawks (7-5) with 13 unanswered points at the end of the first quarter and ran the lead to 20 midway in the second quarter. Kessler and guard Collin Sexton connected on back-to-back alley-oops during the quarter to inject life into a shorthanded second unit.
“It’s building resiliency,” Kessler said. “JJ talks about it, going through adversity and understanding that to be a championship team, you’ve got to respond to that kind of stuff.”
Reaves’ absence was compounded by Grimes’ injury, decimating the team’s ballhandling unit. Redick and general manager Rob Pelinka had worked to stock the roster with guards to ward off the possibility of leaving too much responsibility to Doncic. On Monday, it all fell to Doncic and Sexton.
Doncic, who came in averaging a league-high 40.1 points per game, leaned on teammates early with five assists in the first quarter. Sexton got going in the second quarter with eight points and three assists, all on lobs to Kessler, his former teammate with the Utah Jazz and fellow Atlanta native. Sexton finished with 18 points and six assists.
The 6-foot-1 guard signed during free agency when the Lakers wanted to stock the bench with play-making, shooting and defensive intensity. Sexton, playing on his fourth team in three seasons, has delivered on every one.
“He just checks a lot of boxes,” Redick said. “For us, it was easy. He expressed interest, and obviously we wanted him, and it’s worked out.”
Sexton went to high school 15 miles from State Farm Arena. He estimated he had 400 to 500 people in the stands rooting for him. He stayed on the court for more than an hour after the game taking photos with the hundreds who waited.
In front of his city, Sexton wanted to win, no matter what his role would be within the Lakers’ shorthanded rotation.
“Whenever those guys are in or out, I have to adjust,” Sexton said. “And I feel like adjusting is something I’ve been doing my entire career.”
The Lakers relied on their two youngest players for support. Second-year forward Adou Thiero, who made his season debut only two games ago after struggling with left knee swelling, had two points, two rebounds, an assist and a steal.
Rookie Cameron Carr earned his first rotation minutes and even started the fourth quarter. Carr, whose father, Chris, played in the NBA and famously lost the 1997 dunk contest to Kobe Bryant, scored his first NBA points, appropriately, on a dunk. Doncic snatched a pass from the Hawks and hit Carr on an outlet pass. The 21-year-old rookie gathered for an emphatic, two-handed slam.
The first-round pick had two points and three rebounds. After the game, Doncic made sure to grab the game ball as a memento for the rookie.
LeBron James says his family is safe after multiple media outlets reported that a man was arrested outside the former Laker star’s Brentwood home and booked on suspicion of felony stalking.
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