Hawks’ Dyson Daniels gives Luka Doncic ‘hardest guy to guard’ praise after loss vs Lakers

Hawks’ Dyson Daniels gives Luka Doncic ‘hardest guy to guard’ praise after loss vs Lakers appeared first on ClutchPoints . Add ClutchPoints as a Preferred Source by clicking here . ATLANTA – The way Luka Doncic has been playing over the past few games, the Atlanta Hawks have to be happy they only held him to just 32 points. Unfortunately, it was everyone else on the court who hurt them, and the Hawks lost 124-114 to the Los Angeles Lakers, breaking their four-game winning streak. With a player like Doncic, when he isn’t shooting the ball, he’s probably trying to set something up for his other teammates. He finished with 10 assists, but his teammates didn’t need all of his help. Sandro Mamukelashvili finished with 23 points, while Collin Sexton finished with 18 points. Both players combined to shoot 8-for-12 from the 3-point line. Dyson Daniels took on the assignment of guarding Doncic tonight, and he knows the challenges he presents when he has the ball in his hands, and when he doesn’t. Watch sports LIVE with fuboTV (free trial) “Luka is obviously the hardest guy to guard in the league right now, and then he’s also a willing passer,” Daniels said after the game. “Sandro made some big shots, Collin made big shots, Ziaire Williams made some big shots. If that’s the game plan, you’re trying to give that up. They did a good job of executing out of our blitzes. I think we hurt ourselves a little bit too.” “He’s a terrific player,” head coach Quin Snyder said. “In order to guard him effectively, there are times when you have to commit two people to the ball. He’s a willing passer too, so sometimes when the ball came out of the trap, it puts more pressure on our defense to rotate properly, and that’s what those other guys thrive on: their ability to attack closeouts and rotations.” On offense, the Hawks didn’t take care of the ball, and that bit them throughout most of the game, with the Lakers finishing with 29 points off of their turnovers. “They’re really good at turning you over, and they convert. Things that I think we understand; we just didn’t execute in those ways. It’s tough to defend against live-ball turnovers,” Snyder said. The Hawks found themselves down 20 points in the second quarter, but they were able to fight back and make it a four-point game in the fourth with around three minutes remaining. From there, Doncic made a tough layup, and on the Hawks’ inbound, Williams stole the ball for another easy two points for the Lakers. The Hawks then missed a shot, and Doncic found Jake LaRavia for a wide-open layup to put the Lakers up 10 points. “We started playing slow,” Daniels said. “They’re very good at loading up on drives and being in the passing lanes. And they made some tough shots. Then down the other end, we couldn’t get stops, and that’s a big thing. We need to get stops to get out and run. But I think we just slowed down our pace in that last couple of minutes when the game was on the line and gave up too much easy stuff on the other end.” “I think some of those possessions late were similar to the ones we had early where there were opportunities to attack or challenge people at the rim,” Snyder said. “It’s really consistent with the whole game, whether it be us having poor spacing and trying to attack into a crowd. It’s just hard to do when they’re all shifted, but we have to be more connected late in the game as well.” The Hawks will be back in action on Friday against the Chicago Bulls. Related: Luka Doncic rubs it in Hawks fans’ faces that he’s their one that got away Related: Hawks’ Quin Snyder makes tough admission about loss to Luka Doncic-led Lakers