Lakers Get First Road Victory
Joe Johnson tried his hardest, but the Lakers came out on top
The Los Angeles Lakers acheived their forst road victory of the season last night, defeating the Atlanta Hawks by eight points.
Joe Johnson and Tyronn Lue drained three consecutive triples between them in the last minute, but the Lakers held fast and secured the game from the free-throw line.
The loss is not the only bad news, with Al Harrington likely to miss games with a back injury.
Although the Lakers won the game, Lamar Odom's free-throw shooting was a concern down the stretch, missing clutch free-throws to let the Hawks back into the contest.
Andrew Bogut got into foul trouble early, which escalated when he was called on to replace an injured Chris Mihm.
Mihm was able to return to the contest, and will be at full fitness for the next game.
Bogut, despite being the number one draft pick, and in the Lakers' starting five, still has a long way to go before he is able to become the lynchpin of a team's offence.
The Lakers are sticking with an outside-based offensive strategy, coupled with a fast running game, until Bogut shows enough improvement for the low post to become the focal point of their offense.
They have shown that they can deviate from this plan of attack, as against the Suns, but will only slow it down if the running game plays into their opponent's hands.
Bogut had promising stats of 25 points, five blocks and ten rebounds in 33 minutes, but will need to work on his ballhandling to decrease his turnovers, and will need to decrease his fouls.
The Lakers are putting him through a strict training process over the next three weeks, with assistant coaches Horatio Toomey and Alan Westcott.
The Lakers play Minnesota at the Target Center tonight.