ATLANTA—Kawhi Leonard scored 32 points, including a season-high five 3-pointers, Paul George added 23 points and the Los Angeles Clippers won their fifth straight game, a 120–113 victory over the Atlanta Hawks on Saturday night.
Trae Young had 12 of his 31 points in the fourth quarter for the Hawks, who whittled a 14-point deficit down to four on De’Andre Hunter’s left corner 3 with 2:09 remaining. But they couldn’t get any closer after George buried a baseline jumper and Nicolas Batum hit a right corner 3 with 49.3 seconds to go.
George knocked down two free throws at the 17.6-second mark to put the game out of reach.
Paul George (13) of the LA Clippers dribbles around Dejounte Murray (5) of the Atlanta Hawks during the second half at State Farm Arena in Atlanta on Jan. 28, 2023. (Alex Slitz/Getty Images)The Hawks dropped to 8–6 in January, including 6–3 in their last nine outings.
The Clippers used an 8–1 run early in the fourth to build an 11-point lead on Reggie Jackson’s layup. Atlanta called timeout, but it made no difference as Los Angeles went up by 12 on Norman Powell’s left corner 3 with 9:13 remaining. A pair of free throws by Ivica Zubac and Zubac’s putback dunk made it a game-high 14-point lead at the 5:22 mark.
The Hawks pulled within one midway through the third, but the lead swelled to 71–66 on a pair of 3s by Luke Kennard. Leonard followed with two 3s that made it 76–68, and Los Angeles entered the fourth leading 84–81.
Atlanta took the game’s first double-digit lead at 41–30 on Dejounte Murray’s 10-footer, but the Clippers went on a 26–8 run to go up 56–49 on Zubac’s dunk late in the second. They didn’t trail again for the rest of the game and led 58–53 at halftime.
Clippers: F Marcus Morris Sr. was held out with a rib contusion. F Robert Covington was not available due to personal reasons. Los Angeles has scored over 100 points in 12 straight games. The Clippers improved to 20–6 when leading after three. They shot 48.7% on 39 attempts on 3s.
Hawks: Outscored Los Angeles 62–32 on points in the paint. Young went without a 3 for the third time in the last four games, and Atlanta dropped to 1–5 when he fails to connect beyond the arc. He was 0 for 2. All five of the starters scored in double figures. Young had 10 assists. Clint Capela had 12 rebounds.
Clippers: At Cleveland on Sunday.
Hawks: At Portland on Monday.
By George Henry