LeBron James helps Lakers overcome inferior Hawks team

The Los Angeles Lakers have not lost a game they should have won this season. That trend continued Sunday night against the Atlanta Hawks, as they won 107-106. That said, the Lakers didn’t exactly win convincingly.

This was about as uninspiring as a game in November can be. For the vast majority of this season, the Lakers have taken care of games and looked like the better team against inferior opponents, but Sunday night, that was not the case.

Once again, the Lakers found themselves in a close game late and, while these reps will help long-term, the Lakers should not have struggled as much as they did against this Atlanta Hawks team. With a minute and half left, the game was tied. They’re trying to kill me.

If we’re looking for talking points, Alex Len was a team-high +24. Yes, the Lakers have issues in front court, but that is ridiculous.

At one point of the game, Stu Lantz said exactly what was on our minds when he mentioned the Lakers’ late-game struggles.

Fact is: The Lakers put themselves in a situation they should not have been in and had to fight their way through it.

At the end of the game, it was Tyson Chandler who once again helped seal the victory. Trae Young got by Brandon Ingram and had an open lane to the basket but found the veteran center in front of him. Chandler stretched as far as he could to tip the ball and the Lakers wound up winning a much closer game than they should have.

Look, you win the games that are in front of you. This one didn’t go exactly the way most envisioned, but a win is still a win. Some of the Lakers’ issues still came to the forefront and Luke Walton not playing Lonzo Ball late will once again be a talking point, but wins are wins.

The Lakers play next Wednesday against the Portland Trail Blazers.