Peachtree Hoops: Hawks dominate first half in convincing victory over Clippers

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Photo by Adam Pantozzi/NBAE via Getty Images

A dominant display in L.A. as the Hawks continue their road-trip

The Atlanta Hawks snapped a three-game skid as they toppled the Los Angeles Clippers in convincing fashion on Sunday night at Crypto.com Arena, 110-93.

Dejounte Murray led the Hawks with 21 points, De’Andre Hunter added 20 points off the bench. For the Clippers, Kawhi Leonard scored a game-high 28 points, Paul George added 26 points.

Game three of the Hawks’ five game Western Conference road-trip began the first of two games in the Crypto.com Arena and the L.A. Clippers were first on the docket. The Clippers were double-digit favorites for a couple of notable reasons: they’re a much better team and they’re far healthier at this moment than Atlanta. Both of these factors make it all the more impressive, and surprising, that the Hawks came into the Clippers’ home and utterly annihilated the hosts, leading by as many as 29 points.

The first quarter was a relatively even affair (Atlanta taking a 31-29 lead into the second quarter) and it was here where the game began to open out as the Hawks outscored the Clippers 30-15.

The Clippers missed a lot of shots (28-of-74, 37.8%) but the Hawks’ played very good defense last night. They were shifting well, contesting shots, blocking shots, showing bodies, getting their hands in passing lanes and reading cross-court passes, showing multiple efforts...it was perhaps the best Hawks defensive performance I can certainly remember for some time.

In the first quarter, here was a good steal from Bruno Fernando (who was very good in the first half) as he often blitzed the ball-handler, Bones Hyland coughing the ball up on this occasion:

Fernando gets caught going for the steal, allowing Daniel Theis to cut down the lane but Hunter is on-hand to to rise and produce a fantastic one-handed block as Theis attempts to hammer the dunk:

Leonard and George were efficient last night but the Hawks made their life more difficult by showing bodies. Wesley Matthews and Murray team up to get a contest up on a Leonard shot which falls short:

The Hawks show Leonard a crowd inside and prevent any way out and force him into a tough shot which falls short:

“I’ve got to give them credit,” said Kawhi Leonard via the AP. “They started shrinking the floor and bringing in another guy towards me,”

What the Hawks did very well was turn their defensive stops into scoring opportunities for themselves.

James Harden misses the three as Hunter rushes to contest and Jalen Johnson fires a full-court pass forward to the leading Hunter for the basket:

A fantastic pass from Johnson here, demonstrating his capabilities. It was amusing that Clippers head coach Ty Lue was already walking onto the court to call timeout before Hunter had even finished the play.

The Hawks’ defense is again on display here as they come up with the steal through Johnson, Hunter finds Bogdan Bogdanovic for the straightaway transition three:

The Hawks produce a great defensive stop as Clint Capela blocks Harden, and the visitors again make the most of the miss and Murray offloads the ball to Matthews who hits the three:

The Hawks scored 26 points off of turnovers and a remarkable 31 fastbreak points, aided by their own defense and the Clippers’ frequent misses.

This would continue into the second half as the Hawks initially had their lead reduced to 13 points but the Hawks, spearheaded by Murray’s three three-pointers, stormed away once again and never looked back.

Offensively the Hawks were very good: 110 points on 48.8% shooting from the field and 50% from three (17-of-34) to go with 32 assists, with Hawks head coach Quin Snyder pleased with the options the Hawks are giving themselves on offense.

“We’re doing a better job of not just moving the ball but we’re getting second actions where guys are helping each other,” said Snyder. “They’re doing things to get open and try generate good shots and we’ve made a few, that’s how you get the assists too. I think the big thing for us to get out in transition and that ends up showing itself on the stat sheet.”

The highlight of this game, however, really was the defensive effort, and this was a point of emphasis from the the players.

“I think our players said some things to each other,” said Snyder on if anything was said prior to the game to inspire this performance. “I think they’re talking about the right things that we need to do on defense, trying to be really focused on doing those things. Offensively, really attacking as a group. They’re a very good team so I was happy with how we played.”

It was also the point of emphasis from Snyder, with Murray describing how Snyder challenged the players to be better.

“I think we executed the game-plan, starting on the defensive end,” said Dejounte Murray. “Coach preached in film and practice that he wanted us to be better and we got to want better for ourselves as individuals and bring it together as a unit. I think we did that for the whole 48 minutes. A game is all about runs, they have three, four Hall of Famers over there, so they’re going to make tough baskets. Guys like Vit stepped up, JJ did his thing, ‘Dre was good on the run. Guys were ready to take on the challenge.”

There was just a clear desire from the Hawks to want to be better and they certainly stepped up in that regard.

“We were all on the same page,” said Murray. “Everybody was hungry to be better and do better and I think we did that. From the first guy all the way down. Just talking to each other, helping each other and we were active the whole game.”

Murray led the way with 21 points on 7-of-14 shooting from the field, 5-of-10 from three and 10 assists. Snyder was pleased postgame about Murray’s communication, seemingly another point of emphasis from coach and player.

“I thought his communication with the guys on the floor was really good,” said Snyder of Murray. “I thought we spaced well and when you do that guys have an opportunity to make plays for each other. That’s what he did.”

“Playing the right way for me is on the defensive end and being there for each other, talking and communicating and helping each other,” said Murray.

The Hawks were given lifts up and down the roster. De’Andre Hunter returned to form with 20 points on 8-of-13 shooting, Clint Capela was excellent with 15 points and 13 rebounds, while Jalen Johnson provided a bit of everything as he scored 18 points, grabbed 12 rebounds, dished out six assists, procured three steals and blocked two shots.

The Clippers’ lack of help for Leonard and George was ultimately their downfall and they were the only two Clippers to score in double-digits. James Harden found himself extremely limited in this game, scoring just nine points on 3-of-10 shooting.

However, it can never be quite smooth sailing for the Hawks. Despite a great victory, it’s marred by an injury to Bogdan Bogdanovic, who exited the game in the fourth quarter and went straight back to the locker room. Snyder was unable to offer an update on Bogdanovic’s injury or what the nature of it was, so time will tell what the nature of the injury was, any severity and if Bogdanovic will miss time. The Hawks are essentially locked into the 10-seed so the Hawks can afford to let Bogdanovic rest before bringing him back if he’s due to miss any time.

All-in-all, this was arguably one of the best performances from the Hawks this season given the opponent, the venue and their key absences. To come into L.A. and steamroll the Clippers in their own building at near full strength (minus Norman Powell) with the defensive performance they put in I think deserves a lot of credit — this was an excellent win.

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The Hawks (30-37) are back in action tonight against the Los Angeles Lakers (36-32) in their fourth of five games on this trip.

Until next time...

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