Clippers-Hawks Preview

By SANTOSH VENKATARAMAN
Posted Apr 23 2012 12:55PM

The Atlanta Hawks and Los Angeles Clippers meet Tuesday night at Philips Arena, and they are in similar positions of closing in on home-court advantage in the first round of the playoffs.

Atlanta (38-26) holds a one-game lead over Atlantic Division champion Boston, which is guaranteed the No. 4 seed in the playoffs. The Hawks have clinched the fifth seed, and would have the home edge for their playoff series against the Celtics if they finish with a better record than Boston, which hosts Miami on Tuesday.

"I'm just looking for just the consistency and for the strong finish," Hawks coach Larry Drew said. "I said before that I think it's important to go into any playoff series with a strong taste in your mouth."

The scenario is simpler for Los Angeles (40-24), which needs one win or a loss by Memphis to ensure it will begin the playoffs at Staples Center.

"We got to keep fighting," point guard Chris Paul said. "We got to win one more to lock up home court so a big game for us in Atlanta."

The Clippers must win Tuesday to keep alive their hopes of gaining the Pacific Division title and No. 3 seed. They'd also have to beat New York on Wednesday and hope the Lakers lose Thursday's finale at Sacramento.

The Clippers head east after a hard-fought 107-98 victory over lowly New Orleans in Sunday's regular-season home finale. They outscored the Hornets 33-14 in the fourth quarter.

"We needed this game a lot more than they did," guard Mo Williams said. "We want to get the home-court advantage. It's very important to us."

Paul led the way with 33 points and 13 assists, scoring 13 points in the decisive final period after the Clippers turned in a mostly lackluster effort.

"Our effort, our energy, our attitude, our intensity, anything you want to call it was not very good for about 40 minutes," coach Vinny Del Negro said.

Paul will match up with fellow Wake Forest product Jeff Teague for the second time with both starting. Paul finished with 13 points on 5-of-9 shooting in the Clippers' 96-82 home win over the Hawks on March 14, as Los Angeles shot 54.3 percent.

Teague had 10 points in that game, hitting just 3 of 11 from the field. The only other time he faced a Paul-led team, he shot 0 of 8 off the bench in the Hawks' 100-59 loss to New Orleans on Jan. 21, 2011.

Atlanta had a three-game win streak snapped with Sunday's 113-112 home loss to the Knicks.

Marvin Williams had a season-high 29 points and 11 rebounds, but the Hawks let New York shoot 54.4 percent - the third-highest mark allowed by Atlanta this season, just ahead of its effort versus the Clippers.

"It's frustrating that we're still playing for something and defensively we were nonexistent," guard Joe Johnson said. "There was no help (on defense). If you were guarding somebody 1-on-1, you were definitely guarding 1-on-1."

Two of the NBA's most exciting dunkers will be on display in the Hawks' Josh Smith and the Clippers' Blake Griffin.

The Hawks may have issues defending Griffin since they remain without injured big men Al Horford (torn left pectoral muscle) and Zaza Pachulia (sprained left foot).

Johnson leads Hawks to 109-102 win over Clippers

By PAUL NEWBERRY
Posted Apr 24 2012 11:20PM

ATLANTA (AP) Joe Johnson was just trying to hit the rim.

He wound up doing a lot better than that.

Johnson scored 28 points, including a desperate 3-pointer in the final minute, and the Atlanta Hawks held on for a 109-102 victory over the Los Angeles Clippers on Tuesday night, moving a step closer to wrapping up home-court in the first round of the playoffs.

Johnson hit a pair of treys coming down the stretch, but the one that really stood out came with 38 seconds remaining and the shot clock running down. From 30 feet away along the sideline, he flung the ball toward the basket with two hands. It somehow banked in to give the Hawks a 103-96 lead.

"The craziest I ever hit in a game" was how Johnson described it. "I had no clue how much time was left or what even happened," he said. "I just heaved it up there. I wanted to at least hit the rim. I accidentally made it."

Blake Griffin scored a season-high 36 points, while Chris Paul added 34 in a back-and-forth game in which neither team led by double figures until Atlanta went on a 15-2 run at the end of the third quarter, sparked by Jeff Teague and Josh Smith.

The Hawks can wrap up home-court advantage for their opening-round series against Boston by winning the regular-season finale against Dallas on Thursday. They'll also clinch it if the Celtics lose that same night against Milwaukee.

Los Angeles is trying to hold on to the fourth seed - and home-court - in the West. The Clippers go into Wednesday's finale at New York tied with the Memphis Grizzlies.

"I guess we just made it real interesting," Paul said. "We've got to use this game (Wednesday) as a huge barometer as far as what it's going to be like in the playoffs. In the playoffs you're not going to be able to get down 10, 15 and try to come back in the fourth quarter, because the game's going to be way too intense for that."

This game was tied at 70 when the Hawks took control in the final 3:42 of the third. Teague scored seven straight points and got the best of his fellow Wake Forest guard at the defensive end, stuffing Paul on a drive to the hoop.

Teague stood over the Clippers' star, smiling, but there was no bad blood. Paul hopped up to give the Hawks' player a pat on the backside.

"It's always fun to play against someone you know," Teague said.

Paul hit a pair of free throws, before Smith responded with six straight points. The last of those came after Paul turned it over with an errant pass, sending Marvin Williams flying down the court on a fast break. He missed the drive, but Smith was there to clean up with a dunk.

Ivan Johnson closed the quarter with a pair of free throws, pushing the Hawks to an 85-72 lead.

Teague finished with 21 points, while Smith had 18 points and 10 rebounds.

Los Angeles was essentially a two-man team. Griffin scored 16 of the first 21 points for the Clippers, while Paul scored 20 in the second half. It wasn't enough, not against a much more balanced effort by the Hawks. Williams scored 11 to lead the Atlanta bench, which outscored the Los Angeles reserves 32-19.

"That's what coach (Larry Drew) told us at halftime," Teague said. "Blake and Chris are going to score the basketball. We just had to take care of everyone else."

Teague was at the center of things coming down the stretch as the Clippers tried to close the gap. First, he leaped outside to block a 3-pointer by Caron Butler, sending the ball flying into the seats. Then, winding up in a mismatch with Griffin, Teague managed to hold his ground, knock the ball away and draw a foul on Griffin as they battled for the loose ball.

Teague jawed a bit with Griffin, Mo Williams stepped in and players from both teams got in the middle of things before the confrontation escalated.

"He had me in a headlock," Teague said. "I was trying to get out of there, but he had me locked up pretty good."

Griffin hit eight of his first nine shots while his teammates were missing seven of nine. His most spectacular basket wasn't one of his thunderous dunks - instead, he drove under the hoop, then flipped the ball back over his head without looking, turning just in time to watch it drop in.

Los Angeles led 28-23 at the end of the opening quarter, but the Hawks' reserves led the home team back. Ivan Johnson sparked a 14-2 run with a defensive play, stuffing Nick Young as he drove into the lane looking for a dunk. At the other end, Willie Green put up a 3-pointer that bounced off the rim, the backboard, the rim again and dropped through.

The Atlanta starters leaped off the bench to celebrate, while Green did a little hop and pumped his fist along the sideline.

"If you're going to get over the hump in the playoffs, you've got keep advancing with the bench," Joe Johnson said. "They've got to play a big role."

NOTES: Before the game, the Hawks presented injured C Zaza Pachulia with the Jason Collier Memorial Trophy for his dedication to community service. The annual award is named after the late Hawks C who died in 2005 from a heart ailment at the age of 28. Collier's widow, daughter and parents attended the ceremony. ... Early in the fourth, Green had a 3-pointer reduced to a 2 after the officials looked at the video replay during a timeout.

Notebook: Hawks 109, Clippers 102

Posted Tuesday April 24, 2012 11:48PM

By Matt Winkeljohn, for NBA.com

THE FACTS: Both teams had something significant to lose Tuesday, and when the Hawks played the Clippers it looked for a moment like Atlanta's Joe Johnson lost track of time. Ultimately, the Clippers lost the Pacific division title even though Blake Griffin scored 36 points and Chris Paul had 34.

Johnson's off-balance shot clock-beating 3-point heave from 30 feet was the clinching dagger with 37 seconds left in a 109-102 win over the Clippers that moved the Hawks within one win or a Boston loss of home-court for the Hawks' first-round playoffs series against the Celtics. Johnson scored 28.

The Clippers, meanwhile, saw their chance of catching the Lakers disappear in the Pacific, and they could still slip from No. 4 to No. 5 in the West and lose first-round home-court to Memphis.

Griffin scored 16 points in the first quarter, but Atlanta's bench was fabulous in the second quarter on the way to a 52-50 Atlanta lead at halftime.

Then, the Hawks broke a 70-all tie with a 15-2 run over the final 3:00 of the third quarter.

Still, the Clippers -- who rallied furiously Sunday to beat the Hornets -- made a serious push.

L.A., which had won 14 of 17 games prior to Tuesday, closed to within 100-96 on Griffin's put-back dunk off Paul's missed layup with 1:03 to go.

Just seconds before that, Paul had drained a 3-pointer and Johnson then fumbled the ball out of bounds in the back court to keep the Clippers' hopes alive.

Atlanta burned a little clock at the other end before Jeff Teague missed a heavily contested layup, and the ball was batted out beyond the 3-point arc and Johnson secured it. He dribbled cross court opposite the Atlanta bench, not realizing that Teague's shot had not hit the rim.

With no idea the shot clock was winding down, Johnson had L.A. defender Mo Williams chasing him and about to pin him to the far sideline as nearby teammate Tracy McGrady began yelling to shoot.

Johnson turned and in one awkward motion heaved the ball. It banked in.

Atlanta led 103-96 with 37.8 seconds left, and the Clippers drew no closer than six points from there.

QUOTABLE: "I had no idea [the shot clock was winding down]. I was just trying to hit the rim. I accidentally made it."
-- Johnson, who passed Kevin Willis (10,582 points) to become the sixth-leading scorer in franchise history with 10,591. Dominique Wilkins leads with 23,292.

THE STAT: 2.1 -- That's how many points per L.A. turnover the Hawks scored in the third quarter, when they built too big a lead for the Clippers to overcome. While outscoring L.A. 33-22 in the third quarter, the Hawks scored 15 points off seven L.A. turnovers in the period.

Overall, Atlanta scored 22 points off the Clippers' 14 turnovers.

TURNING POINTS: We'll go with two: the Hawks' bench roll in the second quarter, and the final three minutes of the third quarter.

The Atlanta reserves were outstanding in the second period, turning a 28-23 deficit into a 52-50 halftime lead. Marvin Williams had all 11 of his points, three rebounds an assist and a steal in the period, Willie Green added seven points, Jannero Pargo had two points, two rebounds and two assists, and Ivan Johnson had four rebounds and a massive shot block that sent L.A.'s Nick Young to the floor (all ball).

The Atlanta reserves played a combined 47:29 of 60 minutes in the period, and fared well (making a combined 9-of-17 shots and grabbing 10 rebounds, or three more than all Clippers had in the quarter) even though L.A. starters played a combined 29:36 in that quarter.

Then, when Atlanta out-scored L.A. 15-2 over the final 3:00 of the third quarter to turn a 70-70 tie into an 85-82 lead, the Hawks scored 10 points off four L.A. turnovers. After Griffin was called for goal interference (a turnover), Teague hit a trey, after Mo Williams made a bad pass, Teague hit a runner, after Griffin lost the ball out of bounds, Teague hit another 3-pointer, and after Paul made a bad pass Josh Smith had a put-back dunk off a Marvin Williams miss.

QUOTABLE II: "Our effort could have been better. We just have to forget about it, and turn around and get a win [Wednesday, at New York]."
-- Griffin, who made 10 of his first 12 shots and 17-of-23 overall on a night when his jumper was as good as ever.

QUOTABLE III: "Being able to cut off everybody else's water was definitely beneficial because we didn't want everybody else getting a good rhythm. I don't think anybody scored in double figures other than Chris Paul and Blake Griffin."
-- Josh Smith, who had 18 points and a game-high 10 rebounds, on generally defending Griffin and Paul one-on-one with less help than usual so as not to give space to their teammates. Smith was right. Eight Clippers other than Paul and Griffin combined to score just 32 points on 13-of-37 shooting.

HOT: Marvin Williams, who scored a season-high 29 points in Sunday's loss to the Knicks, made 5-of-7 shots in that second quarter. . . . Griffin hit 8-of-10 shots in the first period for 16 points, and most of them were jump shots. In one sequence in the middle of the quarter, he scored eight straight L.A. points on four straight shots -- jumpers from 19, 19, and 20 feet and a reverse layup. He also scored from 10, 3 and 20 feet and by dunk.

NOT: L.A.'s Randy Foye, a starter, and reserve Kenyon Martin went scoreless while each missed three shots. Foye scored 24 in Sunday's win over the Hornets.

NOTABLE: Hawks center Zaza Pachulia missed his sixth straight game with a sprained left foot. . . . Atlanta center Al Horford, who has been out since tearing a pectoral muscle in early January, may try to play in the Hawks' regular-season finale Thursday against the Mavericks. Or, he may not play at all even in the playoffs. The prognosis seems to change daily. . . . If the Hawks (39-26) beat the Mavericks Thursday, or if the Celtics (38-27) lose Thursday to the Bucks, Atlanta will have home-court when the teams meet in the first round. If the teams finish with the same records, Boston will have the edge.

QUOTABLE IV: "It's big. It's not something we're going to break our necks over. We really just want to go into the postseason as healthy as possible."
-- Josh Smith, on the possibility of home-court in the first round.

UP NEXT: For the Clippers, Wednesday @ Knicks. For the Hawks, Thursday vs. Mavericks.

• Clippers: Billups, Leslie
• Hawks: Horford, Pachulia

• Clippers: --
• Hawks: --

• Lead Changes: 7
• Times Tied: 11

• Arena: Philips Arena, Atlanta, GA
• Officials: #31 Scott Wall, #55 Bill Kennedy, #27 Dick Bavetta
• Attendance: 18223
• Duration: 2:19