Last night, the Atlanta Hawks took on the number one seed in the Western Conference, the Los Angeles Lakers, in an interesting back-and-forth game that went down to the wire. After the game, we learned that Atlanta still has a lot to improve if they want to take the next step as a team with playoff aspirations.

Let's look at some interesting facts that didn't make the box score from last night.

1. Injuries did not slow LA down

Coming into this game, the Lakers were without Austin Reaves, which Atlanta clearly saw as playing into their hands. They focused on taking away Luka Doncic, who was averaging 40 points per game heading into this matchup, and emphasized that the rest of the team would beat them.

Usually, when a team focuses on one player, the respect level for the others around them isn't high, which played a huge role in the outcome. Reaves, being the only Lakers player averaging at least 20 points besides Doncic, opened up easy scoring opportunities for some unusual threats.

Specifically, Sandro Mamukelashvili scored 23 points off the bench, and Collin Sexton scored 18 points off the bench. Doncic finished the night with 32 points but amassed 8 turnovers.

2. Hawks still have no interior answer

Coming into this season, I have written a lot about the Hawks' lack of interior defense, and nights like these prove it's still an issue. While Atlanta can pull off some compelling victories, teams like these with impressive big-man play and inside scoring will dominate them, and that's what we saw with Walker Kessler.

In the game, Kessler finished with 21 points, 10 rebounds, four assists, 1 steal, and 1 block. The Lakers, who average under 50 points in the paint per game, finished the night with 52 points in the paint and 29 points off turnovers.

3. Atlanta's half-court offense

One of the main problems for this Atlanta team is that they cannot get much offense going when held in the half-court. This was something that was exploited in the playoffs last season, and again last night, as the Lakers essentially forced Atlanta to play in the half-court to beat them, which proved to be too much.

While Atlanta is a young, talented team, they need to learn how to play in the half-court when the pace slows down. Atlanta is the second-fastest team in the NBA in terms of pace, with a 104.3 rating, and scores 18.3 points off opponents' turnovers, which is only possible against flawed, undisciplined teams.

As the season progresses, Atlanta needs to emphasize this area of improvement if they want to take the next step offensively. Defensively, they are flawed on the interior, which they could address at the trade deadline, but offensively, it comes down to running more sets and developing half-court personnel.

This should have been emphasized in the offseason, but for now, we can only wait and see how they plan to improve during the season.