Paul Millsap leads high-flying Hawks again: ‘Right now, Atlanta has unshakeable confidence’

LA Clippers coach Doc Rivers was left impressed with Atlanta on Monday night, citing their 'unshakeable confidence' as the East-leading Hawks cruised to a 107-98 win in the NBA.

Paul Millsap of the Hawks grabs a rebound over Matt Barnes of the Clippers during Atlanta's win over Los Angeles in the NBA on Monday night. Frederic J Brown / AP / January 5, 2015

The Atlanta Hawks just keep rolling on the road.

They pulled away in the fourth quarter to beat the Los Angeles Clippers 107-98 Monday night and earn their seventh straight NBA road victory for the first time in 21 years.

They have been doing it by building double-digit leads on opponents’ floors.

“We really can’t control the crowd and a lot of stuff, so we just go out there and do the best we can,” said Al Horford, who had 16 points for the East-leading Hawks. “Coach always stresses the importance of defending and rebounding, and I feel like we’ve been doing a good job of that.”

Paul Millsap scored 23 points, Jeff Teague added 20, and DeMarre Carroll had 17 points and eight rebounds in Atlanta’s fifth straight win overall and 19th in 21 games.

“Right now, Atlanta has unshakable confidence,” Clippers coach Doc Rivers said.

Not so for the Clippers, who fell to 7-10 against teams that currently have winning records.

“Defensively, we have no presence,” said Chris Paul, who had 10 points and 10 assists before fouling out with 1:50 to play.

Blake Griffin had 26 points and 10 rebounds to lead the Clippers, whose biggest lead of nine came at the start of the game. DeAndre Jordan added 15 points and 16 rebounds, and JJ Redick had 14 points as the team’s three-game winning streak ended.

“If we knew exactly what we need to address,” Griffin said, hesitating to find the words. “It’s just not something we can snap our fingers and fix.”

Dennis Schroder’s driving layup gave the Hawks the game’s first double-digit lead, 82-72, early in the fourth. It came near the start of an 18-6 run that extended their advantage to 95-78, largest of the game. Schroder had seven points, Pero Antic five, and Millsap four in the spurt.

“We weren’t executing and making good decisions early, but our defence put us in a position where we could kind of hang around and keep it at six or eight,” Hawks coach Mike Budenholzer said. “We made a little run at the end of the second quarter, then the defence maintained its place, and offensively we got into a little bit of a rhythm.”

The Clippers committed six of their season-high 21 turnovers in the fourth, when the Hawks had one. Atlanta shot 48 per cent from three-point range, and the Clippers were held to 28 per cent.

“We missed a lot of open shots and were very lax with the ball,” Rivers said. “We lost the game because we turned the ball over and gave them easy shots. We were forcing a lot of passes.”

Griffin made one of two free throws to tie it 67-all late in the third before the Hawks scored 10 of the last 12 points to take a 77-69 lead going into the fourth. Carroll had six in the spurt. Griffin and Paul both picked up their fourth fouls in the quarter when the Clippers briefly led by two.

The Clippers’ turnovers led to 23 points by the Hawks, who came in averaging 26.5 in four previous games.

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