Atlanta Hawks win thriller over Los Angeles Clippers, 107-104

By E. Marcel Pourtout, Editor

The Atlanta Hawks continued their winning ways with a 107-104 home victory over the Los Angeles Clippers at Philips Arena on Tuesday night.

The win improved the Hawks’ record to 21-7 while the loss dropped the Clippers to 19-10. Atlanta has now won five games in a row and 13 of its last 14 games overall.

Atlanta’s DeMarre Carroll had a career-high 25 points and 10 rebounds for a double-double. 17 of his points came in the second half. Al Horford scored 20 points and grabbed five rebounds. Paul Millsap had a team-high seven assists along with nine rebounds and 17 points.

“Overall, the defense in the second half was good,” Hawks’ head coach Mike Budenholzer said. “We went through a rough stretch there about halfway through the second quarter to halfway through the third quarter. We were able to right ourselves and find a way to win a tough game against a really good ball club.”

Trailing 57-50 at halftime, the Hawks fought back to tie the score at 81-81 with 40 seconds left in the third quarter on a three-pointer by Jeff Teague, who was returning to action for the first time in three games. He finished the contest with nine points and six assists in over 23 minutes of action.

Jamal Crawford hit a runner on Los Angeles’ next possession to give it a an 83-81 lead going into the fourth quarter. Crawford had 18 points off the bench.

The Hawks started the fourth quarter on a 13-2 run to take a 94-85 with 8:11 left in the game. The Clippers chipped away at the lead and were trailing 95-91 with 6:51 left in the game. Carroll proceeded to score the Hawks’ next seven points, helping push the lead to 102- 96.

Trailing 104-100 with less than a minute to play, JJ Redick hit a layup at the 18.7 mark of the fourth quarter to bring the Clippers within two. Redick scored 18 points in the loss.

Los Angeles fouled Kyle Korver upon an Atlanta inbound and the guard converted both of his free throws, making the score 106-104. Korver finished the contest with 14 points and four assists.

Reddick was fouled on a three-pointer attempt on the Clippers next possession. He made two of three free throws.

The Clippers had a chance to win the game with 6.4 seconds left but a Blake Griffin missed three pointer at the buzzer sealed the win for Atlanta. Griffin had a team-high 21 points, game-high 11 assists and eight rebounds for a double-double.

DeAndre Jordan grabbed a game-high 22 rebounds and scored 15 points to earn a double-double for the Clippers. Chris Paul finished the game with 19 points, seven assists, six rebounds and a game-high five steals in the loss.

“We just kept fighting,” Horford said. “They (Clippers) came ot strong…they were playing much better than us. We just stayed resilient.”

Atlanta shot 44.7 percent from the field in the victory, making 12 out of 23 three-pointer attempts. The Hawks also made 27 free throws out of 35.

“We don’t win this game (last year),” Carroll said. “Everybody trusts each other.”

Los Angeles shot 40.2 percent, making 11 of 20 threes. The Clippers made 19 out of 28 free-throws.

“They (Hawks) played well,” Los Angeles head coach Doc Rivers said.

Atlanta jumped out to a 31-25 first quarter lead. Dennis Schroder started at point guard for the Hawks instead of Teague who is recovering from a hamstring injury and entered the contest midway through the first.

Paced by a 17-0 run, the Clippers outscored the Hawks 32-19 in the second quarter and took a 57-50 lead into halftime.

Griffin had a game-high 15 first half points along with five rebounds for the Clippers. Jordan grabbed a game-high 11 rebounds and scored six points. Overall, Los Angeles shot 46 percent from the field in the first half, making six out of 15 three-pointer attempts.

Millsap scored a team-high 13 points in the first half and grabbed seven rebounds. Korver scored nine points through the first quarter, all on converted three-pointers. Atlanta shot 44 percent from the first half, making seven out of 12 three-pointers.