Dazzling Doncic powers Lakers past Hawks
LUKA Doncic puts on a show, dropping 32 points to lead the Los Angeles Lakers to a 124-114 victory over the Atlanta Hawks in the NBA regular season.
ADAM HAGY/agence france-presse
LOS ANGELES (AFP) — Luka Doncic scored 32 points as the in-form Los Angeles Lakers rolled to a sixth straight victory with a 124-114 defeat of the Atlanta Hawks on Monday.
Doncic, whose sensational early season form has propelled the Lakers to the top of the National Basketball Association (NBA) Western Conference, once again led from the front to secure an impressive win on the road.
The Slovenian star finished with 32 points, 10 assists, eight rebounds, five steals and two blocks in a dominant all round performance.
Doncic, who is averaging 40 points per game so far this season, received offensive support from Sandro Mamukelashvili, who delivered an eye-catching 23 points from the bench that included five three-pointers.
Walker Kessler added 21 points with Collin Sexton scoring 18 and Ziaire Williams 12.
Lakers coach J.J. Redick paid tribute to the contributions of Doncic, Sexton and Mamukelashvili on a night when the team were missing Austin Reaves (illness) and Quentin Grimes (injury).
“I thought Collin did a really nice job of giving us some juice and Sandro had his best game as a Laker,” Redick said. “That was awesome.”
“Luka, again, just orchestrating. He was out there without a secondary ball handler so he had to be on the ball a lot and that was taxing. I thought he handled it well,” Redick added.
The Lakers improved to 10-2 at the top of the Western Conference following the win as Atlanta fell to 7-5.