NBA Game Summary - LA Lakers at Atlanta
Atlanta, GA (SportsNetwork.com) - Kobe Bryant scored 28 points on 10-of-18 shooting and the Los Angeles Lakers picked up their first road win of the season with a 114-109 victory over the Atlanta Hawks.
A 54-percent shooting effort by LA, the return of Nick Young and a wide open 3-point miss by Pero Antic just before the buzzer provided the difference.
Young, who had been sidelined due to a torn ligament in his right thumb, had 17 points off the bench, while Carlos Boozer added 20 points and 10 rebounds.
The outcome came as a bit of a surprise considering the Lakers were coming in at 1-9 on the season and 0-4 on the road and were facing a Hawks team that had won all four of its games at Philips Arena.
Paul Millsap netted 29 points to lead the Hawks, who received 23 from Jeff Teague and 15 from Al Horford.
The Lakers built a 15-point halftime lead that all but evaporated in the opening three minutes of the second half.
Atlanta raced out of the break with the first 13 points, with Teague's 3- pointer cutting the deficit to 67-65, but the hosts never got over the hump.
It was a 91-83 game heading to the fourth, and the visitors led by five, 105-100, after Bryant got a left-handed runner to fall with 2:25 remaining.
Kyle Korver made two free throws following Jeremy Lin's clear-path foul, but Horford missed a long jumper and Bryant made a patented turnaround jumper while being fouled.
"When we really needed (Bryant) to step up, he was able to do that as usual," head coach Byron Scott said. "(He) made some big shots for us."
Bryant made the free throw for a 108-102 lead, and several misses at the stripe gave the Hawks a chance to send the game to overtime.
Atlanta called timeout with 7.7 seconds remaining and drew up a play that resulted in Antic being left open on the right wing. Antic found the rim, and Jordan Hill grabbed the rebound and added two free throws to cap his 18-point, 10-rebound night.
Young ended the first quarter with a 3-pointer off a drive-and-kick from Bryant. The triple gave the Lakers a 31-20 lead that grew to 17 late in the second when Bryant spotted up and drained a contested 3 in the final minute.
Bryant netted 19 points in the half, and Boozer had 18, the last two coming on a tip-in just before the buzzer to give the Lakers a 67-52 cushion.
"We dug ourselves too big of a whole," Hawks head coach Mike Budenholzer said. "Playing from behind the entire game was difficult. You can't put yourself in that position."