The Lakers vs. Hawks matchup was already heating up, and the backstory made it even juicier. Remember 2018 draft night? The Hawks originally picked Luka Dončić , only to trade him minutes later to Dallas for Trae Young. Fast forward to now, Young is sidelined with a sprained right MCL, and LeBron James is out with sciatica. Could this be Luka’s chance to tilt the scales and take control against Atlanta? Not quite: the Lakers fell 122-102.

Los Angeles had been rolling into the matchup, riding a five-game winning streak that included a nail-biting 118-116 win over San Antonio. Atlanta, meanwhile, had shown cracks of late, blowing a 13-point lead on Friday and losing 109-97 to Toronto, hurting their NBA Cup hopes.

Their offense and defense haven’t been consistent, ranking 17th and 16th i

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