Hawks Fall to Clippers on Williams Game-Winner
By Chris Guest
The Atlanta Hawks lost a back-and-forth affair at Staples Center to a battered Los Angeles Clippers team, who were without 4 of their 5 starters.
With under 30 seconds to go, CJ Williams (not Lou Williams, who torched the Hawks for 34 points) drilled a three-pointer, leaving the Hawks with a chance to win the game with a final shot.
For the final possession, avenues seemed to be opening up for the Hawks, but Malcolm Delaney (who had a solid all-around game) picked up his dribble and basically killed any opportunities the Hawks might have had. He passed it off to Taurean Prince, who was forced to put up a difficult (but makeable) contested two-pointer. The shot clanked off the rim, and that was the game.
A big difference-maker in this game was the Hawks’ inability to shoot well from the free-throw line. Even though their 72.4% percent (21 of 29) clip was actually better than the Clippers’ 67.6% (23 of 34), automatic free throw shooters like Marco Belinelli (whose 94.8 free throw percentage was top-five in the league coming in) missed 2 of his 9 attempts and Kent Bazemore both missed two of their shots from the charity stripe.
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Individually, there were a few notable performances for the Hawks in this game.
Notably, Dewayne Dedmon saw action for the first time since November 25th, and he played 20 minutes as well – closing out this game by playing alongside fellow recently healed player Mike Muscala.
Dedmon looked solid in his playing time, scoring 6 points with 3 rebounds while getting reacclimated to playing with his teammates after a month and a half off. One thing that Dedmon will definitely help with is the Hawks’ size disadvantage, as he is the only true 7-footer on the team.
The starters, for the most part, had forgettable performances with the Clippers’ opening unit absolutely dominating for much of this game. Atlanta had no answers for Lou Williams’s crafty foul-drawing techniques and wicked handles, and DeAndre Jordan also had an immense game with 25 points on 10 of 13 shooting with 18 rebounds (8 of which were offensive).
Kent Bazemore saved his best for last, scoring the Hawks’ final 8 points, but it just wasn’t enough. Though he was feeling it in the 4th, and his defense was smothering late in the 3rd as Atlanta mounted their comeback, it took him 14 possessions to score those 13 points, and he only finished with an inefficient 4 of 14 shooting night with a -10 box plus/minus.
Baze did stuff the stat sheet in other ways, however, finishing with 6 rebounds, 5 steals and 4 assists in addition to those 13 points.
Dennis Schröder scored 18 points on 7 of 19 shooting, but he was 0 of 3 from three, and more concerningly, he only had 1 assist in 27 minutes of play and finished with a game-low -13 BPM. Schröd was thoroughly outplayed by Lou Williams in this one, who forced Dennis into foul trouble early in the 3rd quarter – stunting his minutes.
Taurean Prince had a strong game with 20 points on 8 of 14 shooting (4 of 8 from downtown), 4 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 blocks and 1 steal. Prince was very aggressive driving to the rim, and it would’ve been nice to see him attempt to drive to the basket on the game’s final possession — 5 seconds is plenty of time to get to the cup.
Atlanta’s bench play was the a silver lining in this one, as they stepped it up with slightly different rotations.
Malcolm Delaney, in particular, had a stellar performance off the bench statistically, and he finished with 9 points, 7 rebounds, 6 assists and a game-high +14 BPM. Delaney played wonderfully as Schröder’s primary backup in this game, and his solid defense and steady handle served the Hawks well as they mounted their comeback.
In a surprise move, John Collins saw his usual minutes in the late 1st/early 2nd quarter, but he was shut out for the rest of the game. JC was incredibly productive in those paltry 8 minutes, notching 3 points, 4 rebounds, 2 assists and 2 blocks, so it was a bit of a mystery why he would be shut out of the second half.
Most Hawks fans and pundits are clamoring for Collins to get more minutes, so seeing him receive far less than usual is nothing short of troubling.
The Hawks return to action Wednesday night at 9:00 p.m. EST against the Denver Nuggets.