The Atlanta Hawks defeated the Los Angeles Clippers on Wednesday night by a final score of 102-95, yet the game lacked something of the pizzazz it normally would because both teams were missing key players to injury.
The Clips did not have either Kawhi Leonard or Paul George among their ranks, and the Hawks did not have Trae Young or Jabari Parker.
LA led for a massive chunk of the game, including holding a sky-high 19-point lead at halftime. Interestingly, that halftime lead was the largest in Clippers history in a game that ended in a loss, according to ESPN.
The Hawks come back to beat the Clippers after trailing by 19 at half.
It's the 2nd-largest halftime comeback for the @ATLHawks since moving to Atlanta and it's tied for the largest blown lead at half in Clippers history. pic.twitter.com/RN3Y6fjkzp
— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) January 23, 2020
Certainly, the Clippers can be excused for losing this game after holding such a large halftime lead because they were missing their two best players. Beyond that, they were also without backcourt fixture Patrick Beverley, who had started in all 36 games he appeared in.
Despite that, the Hawks were also without their best player in Young, and they also looked completely listless without their offensive fulcrum in the first half. Though they led 11-4 to start the game, the Clippers went on an immense 26-1 run in the first quarter to take a 32-16 advantage into the second.
The Hawks looked dead in the water, but they managed to flip the switch in the second half behind strong games from John Collins (33 points, 16 rebounds) and backup point guard Brandon Goodwin (19 points, three rebounds and three assists) as the Clippers went icy cold – getting outscored by a 61 to 35 margin in the second half.
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