The LA Clippers will be riding a league-best four-game winning streak into tonight’s matchup against the Atlanta Hawks, losers of a league-worst seven consecutive contests.
The LA Clippers, winners of a league-high four straight games, will travel to Atlanta tonight to take on the 3-13 Hawks, losers of a league-worst seven straight games. Despite those numbers, the Clippers can’t afford to go easy on the Hawks — though there’s no reason to suspect that they would.
Atlanta has the league’s most porous defense — allowing nearly 118 points per game — and it’s not hard to see why. With rookie point guard Trae Young at the helm, finding a name on the roster that stands out on defense is a task. Taurean Prince, arguably the team’s top wing defender, could miss tonight’s game with an achilles injury as well.
It doesn’t get much better for the Hawks on offense, either. Despite having six players scoring at least 10 points per game, Atlanta ranks among the bottom-10 teams in points per game. They also own the league’s worst offensive rating.
On the other hand, the Clippers are everything a team could hope to be on the offensive side of the ball. They’re scoring 117.3 points per game, the third-best mark in the league, and own the fourth-best offensive rating. On top of that, the Clippers have three players scoring at least 19 points per game this season in Tobias Harris, Danilo Gallinari, and Lou Williams.
Oddly enough though, the Clipper defense hasn’t been all it was cracked up to be before the season began. Los Angeles also ranks among the bottom-10 in points allowed per game, though their defensive rating is more towards the middle of the pack.
In order for Los Angeles to secure a win in Atlanta, they just need to stay consistent. They’ve scored at least 116 points in each of their last four games, two of which came against top-10 defenses. If the Clippers can do the same against Atlanta’s bottom-dwelling defense, they should be secure on that end.
Clippers fans should like their matchups on defense as well. Patrick Beverley and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander should dominate the Hawks backcourt, and Harris and Gallinari should be able to handle the wings. Alex Len isn’t a particularly efficient center, either, so Marcin Gortat should be able to handle him if they both continue to start.
So long as the Clippers stay focused, this win should be an easy one to wrap up.
The LA Clippers will face off with the Atlanta Hawks today at 4:30 PM PST. According to ESPN, the Clippers are a 7.5 point favorite.