Lakers Blowout Hawks To End 3-Game Skid
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- All-Star game MVP Kobe Bryant scored 20 points, Pau Gasol added 14 points and 10 rebounds, and the Los Angeles Lakers easily ended their three-game skid with a 104-80 victory over the struggling Atlanta Hawks on Tuesday night.
Shannon Brown scored 15 points as the two-time defending NBA champions got right back into form after stumbling into their hometown All-Star weekend with increasingly embarrassing road losses to Orlando, Charlotte and league-worst Cleveland.
The Lakers jumped to a 22-point lead in the first half of their first home game since Feb. 3, never trailing for the NBA-best ninth time.
All-Star Joe Johnson scored 14 points for the Hawks, who opened a five-game road trip with their fourth loss in five games.
(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
