Luka Dončić came back from a one-game absence and finished with 32 points, 10 assists, eight rebounds, five steals and two blocks in 39 minutes as the Los Angeles Lakers beat the Atlanta Hawks 124-114 on Monday night. The win was the Lakers’ sixth straight, improving them to 10-2, the best record in the NBA.
Dončić had sat out Sunday’s 121-116 win over Detroit with lower back tightness, the same designation that kept him out of an Oct. 28 game at the Clippers. He returned Monday having scored 40 or more points in six of his previous seven appearances.
Monday’s 32 ended a run of four straight 40-point games, though Dončić still led the Lakers in both scoring and assists. Walker Kessler added 21 points and 10 rebounds, Sandro Mamukelashvili scored 23 off the bench, and Collin Sexton contributed 18 points and six assists.
The Lakers played without Austin Reaves, who was out with an illness, and Quentin Grimes, who was out with a sprained right finger. Atlanta cut the lead to 115-111 with 3:30 to play before six unanswered Lakers points put the game away: Dončić scored at the rim, Ziaire Williams dunked after a steal, and Dončić assisted a Jake LaRavia dunk to make it 121-111.
A Complete Line, Not a Pure Scoring Outburst
The five steals and two blocks alongside 10 assists made this a game Dončić controlled on both ends rather than one he scored his way through. The five steals matched his season high, set Nov. 1 against Toronto, and the Lakers forced 19 Atlanta turnovers while recording 16 steals as a team.
The scoring behind him mattered as much. Kessler, Mamukelashvili and Sexton combined for 62 points with Reaves and Grimes both out, which is the second night in a row the Lakers covered a missing starter without needing Dončić to carry the whole load.
A Back-to-Back Workload the Lakers Have Not Hedged
The 39 minutes are the number to watch. Los Angeles sat Dončić one night and then played him a full starter’s load on the back end of a back-to-back, with no reported minutes restriction attached to his return.
Neither Dončić nor the Lakers have characterized the tightness beyond the injury report, which has carried it twice this season. The Lakers play at Milwaukee on Wednesday, the third game of a road trip that ends Sunday in Phoenix.
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