Hawks escape collapse against Clippers to win 112-108, go 2-2 on west coast trip

The Hawks returned to the same arena where they suffered defeat at the hands of the Los Angeles Lakers on Friday night to face the other NBA team in the city. Atlanta was still without Clint Capela, while the Clippers would not have Paul George or Luke Kennard available.

The Hawks were able to run out in a transition and get some easy buckets from the start of the game.

After some early foul trouble to John Collins and Onyeka Okongwu, Frank Kaminsky entered the game and made some nice hustle plays.

In the first quarter, Dejounte Murray led the Hawks with six points and two assists and Kaminsky added four points off the bench. Still, the Hawks found themselves down 26-25 after twelve minutes.

In addition to Kaminsky, Jalen Johnson made a big impact as part of the thin frontcourt in the first half.

That spark would light a fire under the Hawks, who would go on to have an explosive second quarter. This flurry near the end of the second quarter put an exclamation point on the efforts in this game, with Trae Young finding John Collins for an alley-oop before a steal and jam off the inbound pass by De’Andre Hunter.

Atlanta took a 66-52 lead into the locker room at half. De’Andre Hunter finished the half with 11 points, three rebounds and two assists. Trae Young added 12 points, three assists and two rebounds. Jalen Johnson had 11 points at half after a perfect 4-for-4 showing from the field.

In the third quarter, the Hawks built a lead of 17 at one point. But Atlanta went cold from the field towards the end of the quarter, and the Los Angeles Clippers chipped away and eventually wrestled the lead away by the end of the period. With the Hawks now down 87-85 entering the fourth quarter, they would need renewed focus to pull this contest out.

The Clippers began the quarter hot and stretched out the lead. But the Hawks eventually settled in and made things difficult for the home team. They forced some stops and ran out on the fast break for easy buckets.

After tying the game up at 102, the Clippers and Hawks went back and forth with clutch baskets.

Trae Young buried a floater with under a minute left in the contest.

He would do just the same just a few game seconds later to give the Hawks the lead for good, as Atlanta closed out the win 112-108. Young finished with 30 points and eight assists. De’Andre Hunter added 20 points plus impressive fourth quarter defense on Kawhi Leonard.

The win moves the Hawks to 19-21 and 2-2 on the recently completed West Coast road trip.

Stay tuned.