A woozy Al Horford sank two free throws with six-tenths of a second left to give the Atlanta Hawks a 101-100 victory over the visiting Los Angeles Clippers on Friday night.
Horford took a sideline inbounds pass from Joe Johnson at the top of the key with three seconds left, faked a handoff to Johnson and then drove strong down the right lane. He was met at the rim in full force by a leaping Blake Griffin and both players crumbled to the floor shaken up.
Griffin was called for a flagrant-1 foul, meaning Horford would get two free throws and Atlanta would retain possession, therefore the Clippers didn’t have a chance to get the ball back. Horford stayed on the ground for a few minutes before sending the Clippers to 3-16 on the road.
Clippers' Eric Bledsoe sank two free throws with 11.5 seconds left after beating Jamal Crawford for an offensive rebound to give the Clippers the lead.
After a timeout, Johnson took the ball at the top of the key, drove the right lane but had his pull-up jumper blocked by Randy Foye with 4.2 seconds left. The ball seemed to go out of bounds off Johnson, but the referees ruled a jump ball and Atlanta won the tip, setting up the game-winning play.
Crawford scored 34 points and Horford had 23 and 12 rebounds for the Hawks, who completed a season sweep against the Clippers.
Baron Davis had 22 points and 13 assists and Griffin 19 and 11 rebounds for the Clippers, who played the first of 11 straight games away from Staples Center.
L.A. Clippers | Atlanta | |
Baron Davis 22 | Scoring | Jamal Crawford 34 |
Baron Davis 13 | Assists | Joe Johnson 9 |
Blake Griffin 11 | Rebounds | Al Horford 12 |
Al-Farouq Aminu 4 | Free Throws Made | Jamal Crawford 5 |
Baron Davis 4 | Steals | Jamal Crawford 2 |
DeAndre Jordan 2 | Blocks | Josh Smith 2 |
Team | Points | FG% | 3PM-3PA | FTM-FTA | Assists | Rebounds | Blocks | Steals | Turnovers |
L.A. Clippers | 100 | 50.7 | 6-18 | 18-28 | 22 | 44 | 5 | 6 | 15 |
Atlanta | 101 | 43.6 | 7-27 | 12-13 | 25 | 44 | 3 | 8 | 12 |