Hawks vs. Clippers Preview
LOS ANGELES, CA (AP) – The Atlanta Hawks have been sluggish offensively on the road over the past month. Trying to break out of that funk against a defensively solid Los Angeles Clippers team might not be that easy.
The Hawks try to avoid losing for the eighth time in 10 games away from Atlanta on Sunday when they visit the Clippers in their first meeting of the season.
Atlanta (21-14) opened a four-game road trip Friday with a 103-94 loss to Oklahoma City. Jamal Crawford had a team-high 26 points off the bench, but the Hawks starters were outscored 74-58.
According to NBA odds and oddsmakers from online sports book SBGGlobal.com have made the Hawks -1 point spread favorites for Sunday’s game against the Clippers. Current NBA Public Betting Information shows that 91% of more than 146 bets for this game have been placed on the Hawks -1.
The game ended on a bit of a sour note with Thunder guard Russell Westbrook pushing the ball up the court to Serge Ibaka for a dunk with 6.9 seconds left to complete a triple-double instead of running out the clock.
“You don’t do that. The game is over with,” Atlanta coach Larry Drew said. “The game is over with. You’ve got the ball, you run the clock out. Just that plain and simple.”
Although Drew was upset with the way the game ended, his biggest concern would seem to be getting his offense on track, especially on the road.
The Hawks have been held to double digits in 11 straight road games, and are 2-7 away from Philips Arena since Dec. 4, averaging just 86.2 points.
Since around that same time, Los Angeles (10-23) has turned up its defensive intensity.
The Clippers were 4-17 and 24th in the league in scoring defense at 104.1 points on Dec. 5, but have since allowed an average of 95.0 points while splitting 12 games.
Los Angeles didn’t have its best defensive showing in Wednesday’s 103-95 loss to Utah, just its second defeat in seven games, but coach Vinny Del Negro attributed most of the troubles to a stagnant offense. The Clippers, who started a stretch of eight of nine games at Staples Center, managed just 13 third-quarter points, putting extra pressure on the defense.
“It was our offense that hurt us more than our defense,” Del Negro said. “We had some turnovers and we lacked ball movement.”
One bright spot for Los Angeles was another overpowering performance from Blake Griffin.
The 6-foot-10 Griffin finished with 30 points and 12 rebounds for his 20th consecutive double-double, breaking the Clippers’ rookie record set by Michael Cage during the 1986-87 season, and giving Griffin the longest such streak by any NBA rookie in the last 40 years.
Griffin has already notched 26 double-doubles in 33 games, and his streak is the third-longest in the last decade, trailing only Kevin Garnett (37) and David Lee (24).
“That’s what happens when you play well as a team and everyone contributes,” Griffin said of his streak. “But it doesn’t mean a win, so we’ve just got to get better.”
The Clippers were swept in last season’s two-game series to the Hawks, and have lost six of the last eight meetings.
Atlanta’s Joe Johnson averaged 26.0 points on 52.8 percent shooting against Los Angeles in 2009-10, while Al Horford averaged 23.5 points on 68.0 percent shooting.
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