Gameday Pr0phile - Hawks

Hotlanta Hawks

(15-34, 4th Southeast)

Los Angeles Lakers

(26-25, 3rd Pacific)

Lakers Team Stats
Offense 98.1 ppg, 20.1 apg, 42.6 rpg
Defense 96.9 ppg, 20.5 apg, 41.0 rpg

Opposing Team Stats
Offense 95.4 ppg, 18.7 apg, 39.8 rpg
Defense101.3 ppg, 19.9 apg, 40.2 rpg

Season Series
LA leads the series, 1-0.

Last Meeting:

Kobe’s 37 led LA to a 103-97 win.

image courtesy AP / Danny Moloshok

Top 6 Lakers

PG Smush Parker 11.7 points, 3.1 assists, 3.2 rebounds
SG Kobe Bryant 34.9 points, 4.4 assists, 5.4 rebounds
SF Lamar Odom 13.9 points, 5.4 assists, 9.4 rebounds
PF Brian Cook 7.8 points, 0.9 assists, 3.2 rebounds
C Kwame Brown 6.0 points, 0.9 assists, 6.0 rebounds
6th Devean George 6.8 points, 1.0 assists, 4.0 rebounds

Top 6 Opponents
PG Royal Ivey 3.3 points, 0.9 assist, 1.1 rebounds
SG Joe Johnson 19.6 points, 5.9 assists, 4.1 rebounds
SF Josh Childress 8.9 points, 1.3 assists, 5.7 rebounds
PF Al Harrington 18.5 points, 3.0 assists, 7.0 rebounds
C Zaza Pachulia 11.4 points, 1.7 assists, 8.2 rebounds
6th Marvin Williams 6.8 points, 0.8 assists, 4.5 rebounds

Key Matchup: Kobe vs. Joe Johnson
It’s not that I think Johnson is anywhere near Kobe’s level, but we saw last game what happens when Kobe takes it easy on D (Devin Brown lit it up). Kobe has been struggling horribly of late, shooting just a hair below 38% on field goals over his last five games.

I fully expect Kobe to respond tonight. Look for him to set the pace early and dominate whenever the game is close. Can he top the big 4-0 tonight?

Featured Peformers
Kobe Bryant 35 points, 5 assists, 4 rebounds, 3 steals
Joe Johnson 20 points, 5 assists, 4 rebounds

X-Factor
Kwame Brown 11 points, 1 assists, 8 rebounds
Salim Stoudamire 9 points, 1 assists, 3 rebounds

Outlook
Key stats: Injuries: Mihm is out. McKie is in a nursing home. Tyronn Lue is out for Atlanta. Streaks: Both teams have won just 4 of their past 10 games. LA is desperately fighting to hold onto their 8th seed in the playoffs. Atlanta has the 3rd worst record in the NBA. The Hawks have little to play for…the Lakers have got to respond at home.

Expect a statement game tonight. The starters didn’t play a whole lot last night because they were up huge early. They should come out fresh and energized. I wouldn’t be surprised to see very effective games from the Laker bigs tonight (Kwame and Bynum on the boards, Cook in the scoring department). Kobe should have his way with anyone on the Hawks team, so don’t be surprised if he drops 40+. Lakers all the way (don’t disappoint).

Lakers 104
Hawks 92