Daily NBA Fix 3-9-14: Surging Los Angeles Clippers Win 7th Straight
By Phil Watson
Welcome to the Daily NBA Fix for Sunday, March 9, the morning after the Los Angeles Clippers stretched their winning streak to seven games with a 109-108 win over the gutty Atlanta Hawks.
It’s the longest current winning streak in the NBA, one more than the San Antonio Spurs, who won their sixth in a row Saturday night against Orlando.
L.A. has pulled to within three games of Western Conference co-leading Oklahoma City and the Spurs and is percentage points behind Houston for the No. 3 spot in the West.
It wasn’t easy for the Clippers on Saturday as the battered Atlanta Hawks rallied from 11 points down in the fourth quarter, but Chris Paul came to the rescue with a go-ahead layup in the final minute.
The Hawks last chance for a miracle ended when Jeff Teague made the second of two free throws after missing the first. He was trying to miss with Atlanta down by two and 1.2 seconds remaining.
Neither team executed particularly well in the closing minute. The Hawks committed a costly turnover under their own basket with 33 seconds left, but Blake Griffin missed two free throws to give Atlanta another chance. Teague was fouled with 1.2 seconds to go, but his make of the second shot effectively ended it.
The Daily NBA Fix will still deliver highlights, game capsules, the top and bottom five players, the dreaded Goose Egg, Clean and Sober and Ironman awards, we’ll recap who’s circling the drain, there will be some interesting pieces of relevant (and not-so-relevant) information and we’ll look at today’s daily lines for those people who like to wager a buck or two.
Check out the highlights below from the night that was, then get into the game capsules (home teams in CAPS).