Hawks at Clippers
All-Star point guard Chris Paul has been on a terrific eight-game run
and he attempts to record another stellar outing when the Los Angeles
Clippers host the Atlanta Hawks on Saturday. Paul has recorded five
consecutive double-doubles and seven in the last eight contests
while averaging 25.5 points and 11.6 assists during the stretch.
Paul had 21 points and 13 assists in Wednesday's 103-98 victory over the Oklahoma City, a contest in which Los Angeles finished with a 26-5 run after trailing by as many as 22 points. The Clippers are one game behind the Thunder for third place in the Western Conference and the game against Atlanta will be followed with seven of nine on the road. The Hawks are 1-1 on a five-game excursion after rolling to an easy 106-77 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers on Friday. Atlanta resides in fifth place in the Eastern Conference but only three games clear of ninth-place Chicago in the bunched-up playoff race.
TV: 10:30 p.m. ET, FSN Southeast (Atlanta), Prime Ticket (Los Angeles)
ABOUT THE HAWKS (34-28): Atlanta limited the Lakers to 34.1 percent shooting from the field and has held four straight foes below 40 percent for the first time since December 1996. "We been playing pretty good defense since about the new year," shooting guard Kyle Korver told reporters. "We have bigs who are able to really get out and kind of pressure pick-and-rolls, and they're very versatile, very active. We're aggressive, try to get a lot of steals and put a lot of teams in bad spots. That's what's been working." Korver knocked down all four of his 3-point attempts against the Lakers and is 7-of-10 over the last two outings.
ABOUT THE CLIPPERS (40-20): Power forward Blake Griffin has missed the past 30 games because of quadriceps and hand injuries and is moving closer to a return. Griffin must serve a four-game suspension for punching a team employee - the incident is how he broke his right hand - once he is medically cleared so the manner in which coach Doc Rivers changed his tune from unsure when Griffin will return to "very close" will draw scrutiny. "My guess is that he's healthy, but the hand doctor probably has not cleared him for contact as far as getting hit," Rivers told reporters. "That's the only thing. Honestly, watching him, I was thinking that has to be the only reason is they're worried it's not healed properly yet. That's the only thing I can come up with."
BUZZER BEATERS
1. Backup SG Jamal Crawford scored 21 points as the Clippers recorded an 85-83 road win on Jan. 27.
2. Atlanta PF Kris Humphries had 14 points and eight rebounds against his Lakers in his first game since joining the Hawks.
3. Los Angeles PF Luc Richard Mbah a Moute (eye) will miss his second straight game.