Lakers get a major boost from an unexpected source in sixth straight victory

ATLANTA — The Lakers didn’t need Luka Dončić to continue his 40-point scoring streak to leave Starm Farm Arena with a victory on Monday night.Even with Austin Reaves sidelined because of an illness fresh off scoring a season-high 43 points in Sunday’s win over the Pistons, the Lakers didn’t need Dončić to perform at the unrealistically high he set for himself externally over the last two weeks. They just needed the Slovenian superstar to make the plays in front of him that the Hawks were conceding – which he did to the tune of 32 points, 10 assists and 8 rebounds for a near triple-double in the Lakers’ 124-114 win over the Hawks to push the team’s winning streak to six games. Dončić added five steals and 2 blocked shots during a night he stuffed the stat sheet while his non-Reaves teammates picked up the scoring slack with the league’s No.11 scorer sidelined. Sandro Mamukelashvili stepped up the most, scoring a season-high 23 points on 7-for-13 shooting (5 of 8 on 3-pointers), finding his spots within the offense to be a scorer and distributor in a way the Lakers needed without their second-best playmaker. Collin Sexton provided the biggest jolt off the bench, with his 18 points and 6 assists coming at critical moments. Sexton also assisted Walker Kessler (21 points, 10 rebounds, 4 assists) on three alley-oops to get the starting big man going early. The Lakers quickly reversed their slow start, turning an early 15-7 deficit into a 31-22 lead going into the second quarter, with their lead growing to as many as 20 points midway through the quarter.Monday played out similarly as Sunday, with the Hawks threatening to erase the Lakers’ lead but never tying or getting ahead of the game.The Lakers closed the game out with a 9-3 run, with Dončić and Mamukelashvili at the heart of creating the easy offense the team is getting used to benefiting from.The Lakers improved to 10-2 on the season with the victory. They’ll travel to Milwaukee to...