AJC: Hawks 107, Clippers 98

[Hawksquawk]

Los Angeles–I’ll leave it to L.D. to sum this one up: “Our defense stiffened up the second half, we started making shots, Joe got into a rhythm, Jamal was Jamal and then Josh Smith made a couple 3s down the stretch.”

• It’s not a winning strategy in the big picture, or even in one-offs against teams better than the Clippers, but it worked today. Perhaps the Hawks can learn a lesson in victory.
• “It was a 12:30 game,” Josh said. “People still had to wake up. I still was in my bed a little bit until I got it going. Everybody got it going. Jamal was a big lift off the bench. He was able to keep the game close with his scoring.”
• Jamal was efficient and explosive for the second game in a row. “People don’t understand,” he said. “I saw Melo’s quote, he missed five games and he said his legs felt like bricks. It just takes time to get your timing and stuff back. You are in such a rhythm of what’s going on, if anything breaks that it just takes time to get it back.”
• J.J. had his …

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