LOS ANGELES — For just the second time in the infancy of the 2025-26 season, the Hawks have strung together a pair of consecutive wins. The Hawks opened up their first West Coast swing with a hard-fought 105-102 win over the Clippers at the Intuit Dome.
The win nearly came down to the wire after the Hawks nursed a 6-point lead in the final two minutes. The Clippers’ James Harden threatened to wipe the lead away after converting a 4-point play.
But Vit Krejci, who had been electric from 3 all night, banked in a 3-pointer right before fouling Harden that gave the Hawks just enough breathing room.
Then, the Hawks leaned heavily on their defense and crowded the Clippers, forcing a bad pass to seal the win.
“I think the end of the game, it wasn’t perfect, by any means, but we haven’t been in a close game against the veteran team,” Hawks coach Quin Snyder said.
“You know, I’ve had the unfortunate experience of playing against James in the playoffs. I had flashbacks to just his kind of artistry. So, when you have a player like that on the floor, you know, it’s tough to win close games. He made plays, and we made our fair share of them as well. And we made them collectively, too. I think a lot of guys contributed.
“So being in a close game, in spite of some mistakes being over come you know, make winning plays when we need to.
“That’s an experience for us that we’ve had on that level this year.”
Quick Stats: Krejci scored a team-high and career-high 28 points on a career-high eight 3-pointers. Kristaps Porzingis scored 20 points. Jalen Johnson had 16 points, 10 rebounds and eight assists.
Key moment
The Hawks trailed the Clippers by as many as 17 points in the second quarter of Monday’s game. They slowly carved into it. But they needed an answer, and it came in the form of Krejci.
The 25-year-old hit a 3 with 6:51 to play in the second quarter that cut the Clippers lead to 12. Krejci hit another 27 seconds later. He then hit yet another 21 seconds later, which forced the Clippers to call a timeout.
He scored 14 of his 17 first-half points in the second quarter, nine of which happened in a 48-second span. It helped power the Hawks’ 25-9 run, which allowed them to get back into the game and eventually tie it up by the end of the first half.
Highlight play
Hawks center Porzingis has averaged 6.3 rebounds through seven games this season, and the team will need even more of them. But the 7-foot-2-inch “Unicorn” flew in from the baseline and slammed down a putback over the top of Clippers center Ivica Zubac to score the Hawks’ first points of the game.
What they said
“I mean, once I hit those three 3s in a row, that’s when I started feeling really good. But yeah, I mean, for me, at that point, it was to stay calm and keep taking my shots. I think at the end, for me, it was most important to not force it.” — Hawks wing Vit Krejci on when he knew he was feeling it.
“Oh, yeah. 100%. 100%. I knew it was in.” — Krejci on if he knew the bank shot was good.
“We talked about really just wondering how much confidence I had. It sounds like hypocritical. If you’re saying that to a player, he’s not playing sometimes the kind of the stay ready moniker doesn’t, it’s not, doesn’t feel loaded with a lot of sincerity. But it’s, it’s true, and he’s done it, and I think, as much as anything physically, which he’s done, you know, mentally, the toughness that he’s shown. You saw the result of that tonight, obviously the shooting. But I thought the way he defended, the way competed, that’s what it comes down to, the shots.” — Hawks coach Quin Snyder on Krejci’s play on Monday.
Up next
The Hawks head to Northern California, where they take on the new-look Kings that feature DeMar DeRozan and Zach LaVine on Wednesday night.
Correction
This story has been updated to correct the height of Kristaps Porzingis.
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