Hawks stay hot, top Clippers

Atlanta, GA – Joe Johnson scored 28 points, Jeff Teague had 21 and the Atlanta Hawks beat the Los Angeles Clippers, 109-102, on Tuesday night.

Josh Smith chipped in with 18 points and 10 rebounds for the Hawks, who have won four of five heading into their regular season finale Thursday against the Mavericks.

If they win -- or Boston loses to Milwaukee on Thursday -- the Hawks will have homecourt advantage over the Celtics in the first round of the playoffs.

They could have clinched it Tuesday, but Boston came back to beat Miami. The Celtics won the Atlantic Division for the No. 4 seed but have one fewer win than the Hawks.

"I mean it's big. It's big," said Smith of potentially having homecourt advantage. "It's nothing we're really trying to break our necks over. I think we just really want to go into the postseason as healthy as possible, just try to go out there and make sure that everybody that plays major minutes are healthy.

"So we'll see how it goes. Hopefully we'll get this next win to solidify it."

The Clippers' loss clinched the Pacific Division for the Los Angeles Lakers, who will have the No. 3 seed in the Western Conference.

Blake Griffin scored 36 points and Chris Paul had 34 for the Clippers -- the second time this season they both had at least 30.

Smith scored 10 points in the third, including six during a 15-2 Hawks run to end the quarter. Teague had the first seven points in the burst, which gave Atlanta an 85-72 lead going into the fourth.

A big swing came late in the game when Johnson knocked down a three-pointer from the left side after Griffin was whistled for a loose ball foul on Teague at the other end.

The shot made it 100-91 with 1 1/2 minutes remaining and Johnson banked in another three moments later after Paul and Griffin had scored five straight points to get the Clippers within four.

Griffin and Paul also surpassed 30 points in a win over Utah on Feb. 1. They were the only Clippers to score in double digits against the Hawks.

"We had other guys going. That just happened to be [where] our scoring came from," said Griffin. "I thought everybody played pretty well. We just got to do a better job of not giving up leads and making careless mistakes down the stretch."

Griffin had 16 points in the first quarter and the Clippers shot better than 54 percent, but only led 28-23 heading into the second. Griffin had four points during a 9-2 run that pulled LA out of an early seven-point hole.

The Hawks, behind 11 points from Marvin Williams off the bench in the second quarter, rallied to take a 52-50 lead at halftime. Williams led a 14-2 Atlanta burst during the quarter.

Game Notes

The Clippers had snapped a four-game losing streak in the series with a win over the Hawks at home on March 14...The Clippers were 1-2 against the Lakers this season. They will end the regular season Wednesday at New York and could fall from No. 4 to No. 5 in the Western Conference.