The Los Angeles Lakers exorcised their demons for the second time in 11 games as Kobe Bryant recorded 28 points to reach the 32,000 career point mark in his team's 114-109 victory over the Atlanta Hawks on Tuesday at Philips Arena.
It was double celebrations indeed for the Lakers who finally snapped a four-game losing skid and improve their season record to 2-9, while seeing Bryant became the fourth player in history (the others are Michael Jordam, Karl Malone and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar) to reach the 32,000 career points milestone.
After scoring 44 points on 34 shot attempts against the Golden State Warriors, Bryant took 18 shots in the game, but there was nothing bigger than a three-point play fade-away bucket to give the Lakers some breathing room down the stretch.
The Lakers also got a shot in the arm from Nick Young, who made a triumphant return from an injured thumb. Also known as Swaggy P, the Lakers shooting guard scored 17 points on 6-for-10 field goal shooting and 3-for-5 from the free-throw line.
However, the most ecstatic player in the locker room was Jeremy Lin, who felt relief that their losing streak was finally over. The Asian-American standout recovered well from his anemic zero point outing against the Warriors, as he contributed 15 points and 10 dimes in 31 minutes of playing time.
"Man, oh man, that's a lot better," Lin told the press after the Lakers victory. "It's been a rough start to the season."
Paul Millsap led way for the Hawks with a game-high 29 points along with 4 rebounds and 4 steals, while Jeff Teague added 23 points on 8-for-14 shooting.
In spite controlling the game in the second half, the Hawks could not recover from a sloppy first quarter performance after allowing the Lakers to outscore them 31-20 in the period.
"Games are not won in the first quarter," Korver said. "But they can be lost in the first quarter. We've got to do better at the start of the game. We've got to bring more energy, bring more juice."
The Lakers will meet the Houston Rockets for the second time in 12 games this season on Wednesday at Toyota Center.
