The surprise absence was on the other side of the lineup card. Austin Reaves, the guy who dropped 43 in Detroit and was supposed to have the ball all night, was ruled out with an illness. So the Lakers lost the scorer they were expected to lean on and got back the one they weren't expected to have. The market had spent the pregame moving hard toward Atlanta on the idea of a Luka-less road team, and that idea fell apart before tipoff.
Walker Kessler was the matchup this page flagged, and he delivered. He had 21 points, 10 rebounds and 4 assists against an Atlanta frontcourt playing without Asa Newell, Henri Veesaar and Mouhamed Gueye. The Hawks were short on size and Kessler made them pay for it the way the preview said he could. Sexton scored 18 with 6 assists off the bench, which covered most of what Reaves usually provides.
The Lakers won it early. They led 31-22 after 1 quarter and 68-57 at the half, and they never let Atlanta all the way back. The preview's worry was Detroit happening again, a big Lakers lead fading on tired legs. Atlanta did close the gap in the 3rd, winning that quarter 33-27 to get within 5 at 95-90. But LA answered with a 29-24 4th quarter and pulled away instead of hanging on.
Atlanta's 4-game winning streak ends here, and the Hawks fall to 7-5. The box score search didn't turn up Jalen Johnson's line or Nickeil Alexander-Walker's, so their nights go unanswered here. The line score shows the Hawks scored 114 at home without ever really taking control. This team has spent the past week coming from behind. Down 11 at the half against a Lakers team that got Doncic back, it ran out of comebacks.
The pace call held up. The preview called this a matchup of 2 top-4 offenses, and they combined for 238 with both teams scoring at least 114. For the Lakers, that's 6 straight wins, and they went 2-0 on the back-to-back with Doncic in one game and Reaves in the other. That's a good sign for the depth of this roster.
