Grading every Lakers player’s performance from the team’s 119-102 win over the Hawks.
Guys, it seems like the Lakers are pretty good.
The Lakers hit a low point on their road trip, closing with a loss to the Hawks. Since then, they’ve won eight of their last 11 games with Friday’s win over Atlanta showing how far they’ve come.
It wasn’t a win without it’s faults. The Lakers turned the ball over often, put Atlanta at the line a little too often and were fortunate the Hawks had an off-night from beyond the arc.
At the same time, they dominated the glass, went 13-30 from the 3-point line themselves and got an impressive amount of production off the bench.
All in all, it’s a back-to-back sweep and three wins in the four-game homestand.
So, let’s dive into the win. As always, grades are based on expectations for each player. A “B” grade represents the average performance for that player.
24 minutes, 13 points, 8 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 block, 6-9 FG, 1-3 3PT, 0-1 FT, +10
Rui lived on baseline cuts in this game. Jalen Johnson spent a good amount of the time “guarding” him but no matter who was responsible for him, Rui burned them repeatedly by simply cutting behind them for easy finishes around the rim.
He might be inconsistent and you might want more scoring from him, but this felt like a really nice game of him playing off the Lakers’ stars.
Grade: B+
30 minutes, 30 points, 3 rebounds, 8 assists, 13-20 FG, 2-5 3PT, 2-2 FT, +4
I’ll raise my hand in admitting that I was pretty worried about what LeBron would have left in the tank after how hard he played against the Blazers on Friday.
I was quite wrong!
LeBron had an incredible close to this homestand. Over the back-to-back, he shot 28-45 from the field and 9-15 from the 3-point line. He closed this one out in the fourth with some incredible shot-making, too.
Not much more you could expect from him in a normal game, let alone one on the second night of a back-to-back.
Grade: A
37 minutes, 18 points, 19 rebounds, 4 assists, 3 steals, 3 blocks, 6-17 FG, 0-2 3PT, 6-7 FT, +17
It wasn’t the best shooting performance from AD in his return to the lineup, but he did just about everything else possible on the night. He wasn’t terribly fall away from a 5x5, either.
Defensively, he was wreaking havoc at the rim and had the Hawks terrified of getting to the basket. He was dominant on that end on the night.
Grade: A
39 minutes, 20 points, 7 rebounds 6 assists, 6-18 FG, 3-7 3PT, 5-6 FT, +18
Austin was on the opposite end of the spectrum of LeBron this back-to-back. He finished the two games shooting 11-33 from the field and 5-16 from the 3-point line.
Even worse, he struggled taking care of the ball in this one. Whereas on Thursday, he offset his shooting with playmaking, he added six turnovers to his struggles against the Hawks.
If you have concerns about Reaves’ ability to be a playmaker against a high-level perimeter defender like Dyson Daniels, Friday’s game didn’t offer much optimism.
Grade: C
32 minutes, 9 points, 4 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 block, 3-4 FG, 1-2 3PT, 2-3 FT, +14
Christie followed up his career night with a much quieter, but still productive, outing on Friday.
One area that will need either some work or abandoning is the LeBron/Christie two-man game. The Hawks were putting Trae Young on Christie and when LeBron was searching the mismatch, the two-man game between the two didn’t feel all that seamless.
For now, give them some more reps to see how it works. But it could be a problem in big games with how often LeBron hunts mismatches.
Grade: B
23 minutes, 8 points, 5 rebounds, 3-5 FG, 2-3 3PT, +12
The two things that I’ve enjoyed most about DFS being on the Lakers so far:
Those things don’t always show up in the box score, but they are clear if you’re watching the game. Knocking down a pair of threes on Friday helped showcase his impact, though.
Grade: B+
13 minutes, 3 points, 1 rebound, 1 assist, 1-2 FG, 1-2 3PT, +1
I don’t really have much else to add about Cam’s minutes at this point in the season. I don’t think he will play when the roster is fully healthy. Outside of that, he is what he is.
Grade: B
13 minutes, 2 points, 4 rebounds, 4 assists, 1 block, 0-3 FG, 0-2 3PT, 2-2 FT, +1
Milton is a perfectly adequate third point guard to have on a team. He’s fine in spot minutes but you can’t rely on him for anything other than that and you don’t want him playing in meaningful games.
That being said, have I mentioned his jumper is hideous?
Grade: B+
11 minutes, 3 points, 1 rebound, 1-2 FG, 1-2 FT, +0
Again, I will withhold some judgement. Hayes said after Thursday’s game that he was out of shape after missing nearly two months. I’ll give him some benefit of the doubt and let him try to work himself back into shape.
That being said, I’m increasingly more interested in what Koloko can do vs. what Hayes can do in a rotation.
Grade: B-
15 minutes, 13 points, 5 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 steal, 4-7 FG, 3-4 3PT, 2-2 FT, +6
I missed seeing those 3-pointers drop for Dalton. It was a pleasant sight to see and, hopefully, it’s a sign that he’s broke through the rookie wall.
Grade: A-
He played 101 seconds at the end of the game. No grade.
I liked the return to more traditional lineups, even if Hayes wasn’t very good. I did not like using a challenge very early in the game on a fairly meaningless out of bounds call. JJ is very liberal with how he uses his challenges, but if he wins them, I guess it’s good enough.
Grade: B+
Friday’s inactives: Jalen Hood-Schifino, Armel Traore, Quincy Olivari, Christian Wood, Christian Koloko, Jarred Vanderbilt, Gabe Vincent
You can follow Jacob on Twitter at @JacobRude.
