Clippers-Hawks Report Card
A recap of the Hawks’ 85-83 loss to the Clippers on Wednesday:
Noteworthy
* Hawks starters were a combined plus-26 with every player in the positive. Clippers starters were a combined minus-48 with every player in the negative.
* All five Hawks starters scored in double-figures with Jeff Teague (16), Al Horford (15), Paul Millsap (14), Kyle Korver (14) and Kent Bazemore (12). It’s the 10th time this season the Hawks have done so.
* The Clippers bench outscored the Hawks 39-12.
* Korver went 4 of 4 from three-point range.
* The Hawks are now 22-4 and 14-2 at home when leading going into the fourth quarter (66-64).
* The Clippers snapped a six-game losing streak at Philips Arena.
* DeAndre Jordan recorded his 27th double-double with 13 points and 19 rebounds.
* The Hawks outrebounded the Clippers 49-46.
Key stat
23
Hawks turnovers – which led to 17 Clippers points. Fifteen of the turnovers came in the second half. Kent Bazemore and Jeff Teague each had five and Dennis Schroder had four.
Quote of the game
“Hell of a move. I just missed it. For whatever reason, I don’t know. I can make that shot, of course.” – Paul Millsap on his last-second miss
Report card
Offense: C
The Hawks didn’t take care of the ball. Millsap missed two in-close attempts in the final nine seconds. They fell behind after going a stretch of 11:25 by scoring just three points (and missed two free throws). They went 1 of 13 from the field with seven turnovers. The Hawks fought back but they lost a nine-point advantage during the drought.
Defense: B-plus
The Hawks played a solid game defensively allowing just 17, 26, 21 and 21 points by quarter. The Clippers shot just 38.8 percent from the field and 5 of 27 from 3-point range. The Clippers did have 21 free-throw attempts but 12 of those were from DeAndre Jordan during the fouling strategy.
About the Author
Chris Vivlamore is the sports editor at The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He has served as reporter and editor at the AJC since 2003.
