Hawks vs. Clippers: Live Notebook
Saturday night was anticipated as the first time Kawhi Leonard and Paul George would finally share the court as teammates, but the wait will go on for at least one more game. Leonard will not play against Atlanta, which diminishes some of the game's intrigue, but probably helps the Hawks' chances in an important road game against a quality opponent.
Even without Leonard, the Clippers have more than enough firepower to hang with virtually any team in the league. But without the security blanket of a second superstar, L.A. could be vulnerable on any given night. The Hawks, who are missing rotation players of their own, will hope Saturday is one of those nights and that they can muster enough scoring to push a talented team.
Pregame
Neither Kawhi Leonard (left knee contusion) nor Patrick Beverley (sore left calf) will play tonight, while Landry Shamet will miss his third consecutive game with a sprained ankle. For Atlanta, John Collins (suspension), Kevin Huerter (left shoulder), and Vince Carter (personal reasons) are all out.
Paul George is playing just his second game of the season after missing the first three weeks of the season recovering from offseason surgeries on both shoulders. George dropped 33 points, nine rebounds, and four assists in his season debut Thursday against New Orleans.
First Quarter
Trae Young, Cam Reddish, De'Andre Hunter, Jabari Parker, and Damian Jones will start against Terrence Mann, Rodney McGruder, Paul George, Moe Harkless, and Ivica Zubać. Lou Williams and Montrezl Harrell, two of the Clippers' best scorers, will continue to come off the bench to power the second unit. Look for Hunter to get the initial assignment on George.
Zubć likes to drop back in pick-and-roll defense, while Young can burn that coverage with his pull-up shooting. We'll see which side acquiesces to the other's approach first.
George looks in midseason form early. His handle, footwork, and touch are as pristine as they were last season, when he finished third in MVP voting, and he's been quite assertive early getting to the basket and the free-throw line.
The Clippers are getting really high-quality shots and capitalizing. With the exception of a couple of George's tough makes, virtually every one of L.A.'s looks has been open and comfortable. A Damian Jones dunk puts the Hawks in double figures, but the Clippers lead 25-10.
Once again, Lloyd Pierce pairs Alex Len and Bruno Fernando together in the second unit. Parker and Hunter exit at the same time, which suggests we may not see much of Hunter at power forward in the first half.
Young is forcing things a little bit early. He's found teammates with some really nice passes, but also tried to squeeze the ball through overly tight spaces and forced some long 3-pointers early in the clock. He's just 1-for-6 through his first rotation.
Good to see Allen Crabbe and Evan Turner getting some run together in the first quarter. Turner has missed the last eight games with Achilles soreness while Crabbe played for the first time all season Thursday night against Phoenix, and both could be useful options throughout the season to give Atlanta some extra depth.
After one quarter, the pace in this game has been rapid. Each team had 29 possessions in the first quarter and averaged under 14 seconds per possession. All things considered, the Hawks are in decent position to only be down 13, if that's possible. The Clippers scored nearly 1.5 points per possession on shots that came far too easily, while Atlanta took about half the quarter to find any kind of offensive pace. L.A. leads 43-30.
Cam Reddish needs to learn to make better decisions in transition, namely giving the ball up or slowing it down when he doesn't have a numbers advantage. He doesn't yet have the strength or athleticism to finish through defenders at the rim, so his forays to the basket often end in him being stripped or forced into a wild layup. The game will slow down for him at some point, but Reddish would do well to check his own speed as well.
Second Quarter
Having Evan Turner in the rotation made a big difference in that first rotation. The Hawks are thin on shot creators, and while Turner is a deeply flawed offensive player, his ability to put the ball on the floor and set up teammates gives Atlanta something it desperately needs.
Bob Rathbun put it accurately on the FOX broadcast when he said, "Paul George is good at basketball." Indeed, George has been sublime in the first half, scoring 25 points on just 11 shot attempts. He's been a better distributor than his mere two assists would indicate, and the lone Clipper dry spell came with him on the bench. Players his size just shouldn't shoot as smoothly or move as fluidly as he does. George is stepping back into 3s and slithering downhill when given the opportunity, and Atlanta simply doesn't have an answer. Clippers lead 66-49.
L.A. leads, 74-62, at halftime. Atlanta's offense found something of a rhythm late, but the Hawks have been unable to contain L.A. whatsoever. The Clippers are scoring 127.6 points per 100 possessions, per Cleaning the Glass, and shooting 6-of-14 on 3s. The biggest separator has been in the midrange, where the Clippers have made 8 of their 17 attempts.
The Hawks are in decent position to only trail by 12 and could have trimmed the deficit even further in the first half. They generated higher quality shots than the Clippers, per pbpstats, but an ice cold start from the field weighed down their offense. Young is just 2-of-11 from the field (though 10 free-throw attempts have helped him to 14 points) and Atlanta is just 4-of-15 on 3-pointers.
Third Quarter
Young and George exchange 3-pointers to start the third -- Young with a jumper and George with an and-one. The Hawks have done well to stay afloat with Young struggling from the field, but will need him to get going in the second to stay competitive for the final 24 minutes.
Jabari Parker hasn't had the same magic tonight that he's played with over the last five games. He's just 4-of-10 from the field for nine points, which makes it harder to overlook how ineffectual he is on defense. It's nothing to fret over, but it could mean the Hawks look to a few other places for offense tonight.
George turns the corner out of the pick-and-roll to find Damian Jones switched onto him and just dusts the big man for an and-one. The Hawks have done a lot of switching on defense both in this game and all season, but given the way George has played tonight, they might consider trying to keep Hunter (or whichever defender happens to be guarding George) on him as much as possible.
Per the Hawks' PR account, Trae Young has just become the fifth-youngest player in NBA history to reach 750 career assists, behind LeBron James, Jrue Holiday, Stephon Marbury, and Tony Parker.
With the Clippers up 28 and Lou Williams up to 23 points, I wonder if we'll see much more of Paul George in this game. L.A. will likely want to be precautious working him back into the fold, and this would be a good opportunity to buy him some rest with the outcome now out of question.
After three quarters the Clipper lead has ballooned to 30. L.A. is scoring 134.9 points per 100 possessions and shooting an effective field goal percentage of 57.7. It would take a truly explosive offensive performance to outgun that sort of efficiency, and the Hawks have not put together that type of game. Clippers lead 112-82 entering the fourth.
Fourth Quarter
A disastrous game becomes even worse as the Clippers jump on the Hawks in the fourth quarter. George played a brief spurt at the start of the period, but there was little use in keeping him in beyond that. L.A.'s second unit took care of business and will put this one away, 150-101.
