Danilo Gallinari’s Atlanta Hawks, with seven consecutive victories, pay a visit to the reigning champions, the Los Angeles Lakers of LeBron James. The King comes out in the second quarter due to an ankle injury: the challenge is live on Sky Sport Uno and in streaming exceptionally open to all on the Sky Sport website with the comment of Flavio Tranquillo and Davide Pessina
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The story of the first half
LeBron James immediately starts raising his lob for Damian Jones’s dunk, but Atlanta comes close to the basket with Kevin Huerter’s attacking rebound and two free throws from John Collins for overtaking. James enters the game with a low post possession against Tony Snell, while Huerter hits two three-point shots and brings his team back to 14-10 and forces the Lakers to timeout. At the first break, Rajon Rondo is thanked for his contribution to the 2020 title, while the yellow-violet attack continues to not build anything good and Collins arrives for +7 (after a close error by Gallinari). The blue is found present on an offensive cut earning the first two points of his game from the line, with Atlanta going to the second timeout at 23-15. The yellow-violets find nine unexpected points off the bench with Wes Matthews, bringing his team even because James returns to the field with a completely different spirit and the rest of the team follows him. Gallinari with a nice penetration inspires Solomon Hill’s triple that closes the first quarter on 28-25 in favor of the guests.
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deepening
Ankle injury for LeBron James. VIDEO
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Lakers fans sweat cold in the opening second quarter when LeBron James leaves the court holding his ankle and rolling on the ground, even if he manages to get up and get to the bench on his legs albeit with some pain. The King, however, is in the field at the resumption of operations scores immediately from the corner for -2 reaching the double digits, but returns to the locker room hitting a chair in frustration. Despite the exit of 23, the Lakers turn up the engine and carry on at 45-42 with the physicality of Talen Horton-Tucker. Atlanta finds the draw with the first two points of Trae Young’s game with three minutes left in the first half, while Collins continues to be loud and reaches 18. The yellow-violet still remain ahead of the interval at 53-52, but in the locker room they learn the news that James is out for the rest of the game.
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The story of the second half
Atlanta returns to the field better and immediately scores a 9-0 run to take control of the match, also because Young also starts to go on his own after a first time spent mainly serving his teammates. The Lakers continue to never score in the first five minutes of recovery (0/11) and Collins punishes them first by three for the +11 and then stopping Horton-Tucker, while Schröder tries to sacrifice his body to give his people some energy throwing himself on a stray ball. THT stops the opponents’ partial 12-0 and Harrell crushes the -7 with the yellow-violet who try to increase the intensity, with Rondo also taking a technical foul by putting the ball in Schröder’s face. Gallinari replies with three baskets in a row for +13 of his, even if the yellow-violet with Harrell try to stay in contact in some way by closing the third quarter at -9 (with only 12 points scored).
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The third triple of the evening by Gallinari on an assist from Young he brings Atlanta back to the maximum advantage on +13, even if Harrell really tries everything to keep his team in the game despite the offensive difficulties.
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