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LOS ANGELES – Frankly speaking, the Atlanta Hawks were just what the Los Angeles Lakers needed.
After a potentially demoralizing loss to Golden State two days earlier, the Lakers found themselves in 10th place in the Western Conference, not where they — or anyone — imagined they were languishing with four weeks left in the regular season.
But the Hawks were an easy challenge Monday in a 136-105 Lakers victory at Crypto.com Arena. Anthony Davis made a successful return from an eye injury and D’Angelo Russell continued his smooth shooting season with a record-tying effort.
Russell scored 27 points and made six 3-pointers, tying Nick Van Exel for the most 3-pointers in a single season by a Lakers player. Van Exel had 183 in the 1994-95 season, an unmatched number until Monday.
“It’s another beautiful feeling, knowing what this organization means to me,” Russell told Spectrum SportsNet.
Russell also holds the record for most three-pointers made in a season for the Brooklyn Nets. He hit 234 in 2018-19, the only time he was an All-Star.
Davis called Russell’s season-long shooting acumen “phenomenal.”
“Obviously he can score whenever he wants. It can get hot at any time,” Davis said. “He’s able to get going, fill up the stat sheet. It is something very important for him and for us as a team.”
Lakers coach Darvin Ham said Russell had a lot of freedom to shoot as many times as he wanted as “without a doubt the best shooter on our team.”
Ham then joked about giving Russell more than just the green light to shoot.
“I want him to be as aggressive as possible from the three-point line. It has a green room. There is no green light. A green room.”
Davis had 22 points and 15 rebounds two days after leaving the Golden State game two days earlier because he was hit in the eye.
“I just couldn’t see. The corneal abrasion was actually right in the middle of my eye. It wasn’t like on the side. So every time I looked, it was blurry,” Davis said. “I felt like I had sand in my eye. It was just better to close it.”
Davis said the swelling began to go down Saturday night and he stayed in the dark as long as he could until he saw an ophthalmologist Sunday morning. Davis said she would not wear glasses at games because she “had gone through that phase in high school.”
He didn’t need glasses on Monday, made 10 of 14 shots against Atlanta and missed the fourth quarter because the Lakers were so far ahead.
The injury news was not entirely pleasant for the Lakers.
Backup big man Christian Wood was scheduled to undergo arthroscopic surgery on his ailing left knee on Tuesday and was expected to miss the remainder of the regular season. Wood had not played since February 14 due to knee swelling, and his absence left the Lakers with a thin front line: only Davis and Jaxson Hayes were capable of playing center for extended periods.
Everything seemed fine on Monday. The ball moved quickly and efficiently for the Lakers, as it had many times this season. The Lakers racked up 39 assists on 52 field goals, an impressive number against any team at any time. Even the hapless Hawks.
“The ball movement, to finish with 39 assists, is huge,” Ham said.
LeBron James had 10 of those assists along with 25 points.
Jalen Johnson scored 25 points as the Hawks (30-38) fell to 6-6 since All-Star guard Trae Young was sidelined with a finger injury.
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