Throughout the first half of the Hawks’ game against the Clippers on Wednesday night, the contest seemed like it was getting out of hand.
In the first two quarters, play after play, Los Angeles got into the paint and scored. Lou Williams cut through the lane for a lay-up. Montrezl Harrell made a jump hook from the low block. Then he did it again. And again.
As the Clippers jumped to a 19-point halftime lead, the optimism evaporated from State Farm Arena. The first 24 minutes became reminiscent of the last time the two teams met, when Los Angeles scored 74 first-half points en route to a 49-point win Nov. 16.
“There was nothing more disturbing than watching our guys in that first half,” Hawks coach Lloyd Pierce said postgame Wednesday. “The message was, we’re just not in a position to come out and not compete, the way we were in the first half, to not have a sense of urgency against a team that played the night before.”
But the Hawks came out of the halftime locker room with a fervor, particularly on defense, holding the Clippers to 35 points in the second half and storming back from 21 points down for their 11th win of the season.
The Hawks (11-34) held the Clippers to 33% from the floor in the last two quarters, including a dismal 2-of-15 on 3-point shots and only 16 points in the paint. For Pierce, the most important halftime fix wasn’t one of execution, but of effort.
“It’s just effort,” Pierce said. “I don’t think it was anything other than us trying to wear them down and us playing with a lot of effort and energy.”
Los Angeles played the previous night against the Mavericks in Dallas, leaving the Clippers without Kawhi Leonard, Paul George, and Patrick Beverly on the second night of their back-to-back. Going into the matchup, the Hawks wanted to exploit the circumstances and put full-court pressure on the Clippers’ ballhandlers. The strategy finally began to pay off as the game wore on, resulting in a 4-for-14 second half for Williams.
“We wanted to pick up full court, we wanted to keep the ball out of (Lou Williams’) hands, we wanted to blitz him every time he touched it and the overall effect was to try and wear them down, because they played last night,” Pierce said.
The Hawks themselves were without Trae Young, leaving Jeff Teague and Brandon Goodwin to run the offense. The rookie Goodwin filled the hole and exploded for 19 points in the fourth quarter, but it was his defense on Williams, a South Gwinnett High graduate, that got him started.
“I’m coming off the bench, so I get a better feel for the game, watching it,” Goodwin said. “I see what’s not working and I kind of got that advantage. (Pierce) was just telling me to bring energy, be scrappy, pick up Lou full court. I think those little things got me going offensively.”
The Hawks’ effort also paid dividends on the glass, where the Hawks outrebounded the Clippers by 17 in the second half. The group also recorded a season-high 23 offensive rebounds, leading to 25 second-chance points.
John Collins led the way for the Hawks’ effort on the boards, coming up with 16 rebounds, including seven offensive. The third-year forward was also a key piece in slowing down Harrell, holding him to nine points in the second half, after he scored 21 in the first.
“(John’s) got to be up in picks and rolls when we’re blitzing. And he’s got to be down the floor to clean up and get the defensive rebounds as well,” Pierce said of Collins’ defensive role. “It doesn’t matter, that’s just going to be his ongoing process as a defender and as a multiple effort type of player. That’s all I’m preaching to him. He’s got to play with tremendous energy on both sides, especially the defensive end.”
It’s no secret that the Hawks’ defense has struggled to take a leap forward this season. The Hawks rank 26th in the league in defensive rating and 29th in opposing points in the paint, leaving plenty of room for improvement.
While it’s difficult to glean too much from the defense against a depleted Clippers team, Pierce hopes that Wednesday’s second half can be a momentum builder for his team to compete for a full 48 minutes. With a defensive anchor in Collins and scrappy bench contributors such as Goodwin, the Hawks appear headed in the right direction.
“It has to be effort,” Pierce said. “It has to be together.”
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