LA Clippers look to sweep Hawks in season series

The LA Clippers look to win five in a row as they visit the reeling Atlanta Hawks after a win in the first of a back-to-back in Dallas.

The LA Clippers are on the second night of a back-to-back having beaten the tough Dallas Mavericks. Tonight, the Hawks will look to avenge a 49 point loss from mid-November and will not have to worry about Paul George or Kawhi Leonard.

The LA Clippers come into Atlanta on a four-game winning streak and are only 3.5 games behind the Lakers for the number one spot in the West. LA, still trying to find working line ups will have to wait some more while Paul George (hamstring), Kawhi Leonard (injury management), and Patrick Beverley (groin) likely sit for this game (The team has yet to release an injury report). The hosting Hawks will come in as a mostly healthy team minus one Jabari Parker.

The Hawks have one of the worst records in the league but with the Clippers missing three of their starters, The Hawks could have some life. With the Clippers inconsistency at times on defense, we could see Atlanta Hawks Guard go off during this game.

Slowing down Trae

The Hawks are coming off a loss to the Toronto Raptors are in need of a win. Trae Young is coming off a 42 point night in the loss. The Clippers will need to pick him up from half court or even 94 feet if they don’t want to end up on some highlight with Trae shooting from the logo.

The Hawks shot 25% from deep in their first match up with the Clippers and 37% for the game. Defense and getting the ball out of Trae’s hand will be key in controlling his output, forcing the Hawks to rely on other players to help score. As long as the Clippers stay home and rotate help on cue it should be a night where even if Trae goes off, the Clippers have a good chance to leave this back-to-back with a win.

Lou and Trezz need to carry the load

Lou Williams and Montrezl Harrell will need to carry the offensive load to make up for three of their starters being out. This will almost be a throwback to last year when these two would come in night in and night out and just produce. It will look to be the same this game with hopefully some pick-and-roll from the two.

They both have done great things without using the pick-and-roll. We could expect to see Harrell in the post with the hook shot that he’s been working on and Lou is always money and hardly has an off night. As long as it’s not one of those nights where nothing is going in they should be fine and it will be a competitive game start to finish. Don’t think for a second the Hawks want to drop this one by 49 points like the last game.

Big night from a role player

The Clippers are going to need some help. They don’t have Shai Gilgeous Alexander or Tobias Harris like last year, but they do have Landry Shamet who looks to be finding his grove after missing time with injury. He will have the opportunity for hand off threes and spot-up shots from players driving and kicking out. Shamet went 5 of 8 from deep against the Dallas Mavericks and will need to do even more without Leonard and George.

Could it be possible to have JaMychal Green or Patrick Patterson to go off from deep? We can hope as there have been games where they have helped with their deep shooting. Needless to say, the team will need everyone on point from the defensive end which will help with their offensive end.

The Clippers should come out with the win but getting into foul trouble and missed defensive assignments could make this an ugly game.