The Los Angeles Lakers are finally getting a reprieve in the schedule. Yes, a certain amount of back-to-backs are inevitable based on the compressed nature of the NBA schedule. But the Lakers couldn't have asked for a better opponent to play their second consecutive game against. A night after playing the surprising Sacramento Kings, the Lakers get to face the tanking Atlanta Hawks on their home floor, giving them an opportunity to pick up not just another win, but a fairly relaxing one at that.
The game between the Lakers and the Hawks will begin at 9:30 Eastern Time, 6:30 Pacific Time and will be broadcast on Spectrum Sportsnet in Los Angeles Bill Macdonald and Stu Lantz broadcasting and Mike Trudell as the sideline reporter. As it is not going to be nationally televised, it will be streamed on NBA League Pass for all out of market fans. The local radio broadcast will air on 710 ESPNLA with John Ireland and Mychal Thompson on the call, and a list of other radio affiliates in the region can be found here.
The Hawks are actively trying to lose games this season. They moved on from coach Mike Budenholzer—now starring for the Milwaukee Bucks—because he didn't share their vision. But the Budenholzer era informed that philosophy. The Hawks spent years playing nearly perfect team basketball around players like Kyle Korver, Al Horford and Paul Millsap. But none of that mattered whenever they encountered LeBron James in the playoffs. The Hawks learned firsthand what happens when you don't have stars at the highest level. They have built their current organizational philosophy around getting that player in the building for the next decade.
They are off to a good start with Trae Young, who has admittedly been inconsistent, but is producing good volume as a scorer and passer, but is an abysmal defender whose shooting percentages are lower than the Hawks would have hoped for. This creates a fortunate situation for the Lakers. Their spacing tends to get a bit cramped due to the lack of shooting on their roster, but a team with as poor a defender as Young offers far better opportunities to create mismatches and attack the basket. If the Lakers don't trust Young to shoot efficiently, they can treat him as so many teams have treated Lonzo Ball: by sagging off of him and daring him to shoot.
What the Lakers decide to do strategically is likely immaterial. The talent gap is so large between these two teams that the Lakers could sleep through this game and earn a win. They just might do that considering their flight home from Sacramento the night before. If the Lakers can't win this one, they'll have very serious problems to address.