Clippers at Hawks
The Los Angeles Clippers have three of the top 35 scorers in the NBA as they head to Atlanta for a Monday night matchup with the Hawks, but contributions from outside that trio helped fuel a four-game winning streak. Saturday it was reserve forward Montrezl Harrell coming off the bench to score 16 points with 10 rebounds, helping Los Angeles rally in the fourth quarter to earn a 127-118 road victory at Brooklyn.
Harrell scored 10 points in the final period, teaming with 71 points combined from Danilo Gallinari, Tobias Harris and Lou Williams as the Clippers began a three-game road swing with their sixth victory in the past seven games. “This was a game for us tonight that we had to throw every logical thing out and just try to find five guys that can make a run,” Los Angeles coach Doc Rivers told reporters afterward. Atlanta returns home after losing all four games on a road trip, but the NBA’s second-worst team record-wise was competitive in three of the contests – including Saturday’s 97-89 defeat at Indiana in which the Hawks led late in the third quarter. “Just trying to get a group to finish the game,” Atlanta coach Lloyd Pierce told the media after the Hawks seventh consecutive defeat. “Most good teams put their foot on the gas and they keep going.”
TV: 7:30 p.m. ET, FS Prime Ticket (Los Angeles), FS Southeast (Atlanta)
ABOUT THE CLIPPERS (10-5): Harris (20.7 points per game), Gallinari (19.6) and Williams (19.1) drive an offense ranked fourth in the NBA in scoring (117.3 points per contest). The Clippers shot 50.5 percent from the field Saturday and hit 11-of-23 3-point attempts, despite not holding shootaround Saturday morning, and are second in the league from beyond the arc at 39 percent. Gallinari is tied for 10th in 3-point shooting (46.3 percent) and is 9-for-17 in his past two games.
ABOUT THE HAWKS (3-13): One positive for Atlanta in Saturday’s loss was the season debut of John Collins, who scored 12 points in 12 minutes after missing the first 15 games with a left ankle injury. Rookie point guard Trae Young is fourth in the NBA in assists per game (7.8), but missed all 14 of his 3-point attempts in the past three games and is shooting 20.6 percent overall from the field in that span. The Hawks are last in the league in points allowed per game (117.7).
BUZZER BEATERS
1. The Hawks played Saturday without F Taurean Prince (right Achilles pain) and lost F Alex Poythress in the third quarter with a left ankle contusion.
2. Clippers G Avery Bradley missed his sixth straight game Saturday with a sprained left ankle.
3. Atlanta plays seven of its next 10 games at home but it’s a difficult stretch, including games with Toronto, Boston, Oklahoma City and Golden State in that stretch.