After picking up a big win on Wednesday night, the Los Angeles Lakers were looking to continue taking steps forward in another road game against a high-quality Eastern Conference opponent in the Atlanta Hawks. In the first half, it looked like the Lakers were taking steps back rather than building off of the win over the Washington Wizards.
The first quarter started out with both the Lakers and the Hawks shooting the ball with horrible inefficiency, particularly Kobe Bryant and the rest of the starters. It was then the Hawks that pulled it together in the second quarter behind a nice effort from Al Horford and Mike Scott that led to Atlanta holding a 16-point halftime lead.