<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">ATLANTA ? The Clippers' expectations are changing quickly in an impressive start, so a 102-95 victory Thursday night over the Atlanta Hawks wasn't their focus. Coach Mike Dunleavy and players instead dissected what went wrong against the winless Hawks at Philips Arena, and the list was long. They said they committed too many turnovers and weren't aggressive enough in rebounding, among other transgressions, contributing to the outcome's being in doubt longer than the Clippers had anticipated. "We didn't play well tonight, and we haven't reached our peak yet, but we won and that's what the good teams do," point guard Sam Cassell said. "The good teams win ugly and they win nasty. We won ugly and nasty tonight." Cassell looked good as the Clippers improved to 3-1 on the road and 2-1 on the four-game trip, scoring 21 points with nine assists, eight rebounds and three steals. The 12-year veteran again controlled the tempo as the Clippers (5-1) opened a 12-point lead early in the fourth quarter against the Hawks (0-5) and maintained a comfortable lead. Forward Elton Brand made another efficient contribution. After a 31-point, 13-rebound performance in Wednesday's victory against the Washington Wizards, Brand had 23 points, seven rebounds and three blocked shots. With the Clippers leading, 66-64, and the Hawks rallying in the third quarter, Brand blocked Al Harrington's shot, triggering a fastbreak that culminated in Cuttino Mobley's three-point basket that gave the Clippers a five-point cushion with 4:30 remaining. Mobley made two three-point shots in four attempts and scored 12 points. He returned to the game with less than two minutes left after slamming his head on the ground with 5:11 left in pursuit of the ball, opening a cut on his right eyebrow that required five stitches. "I know Coach [Dunleavy] said it wasn't pretty, and we could have played a lot better, but it was beautiful to me because we got another win on the road," Brand said. "We had it going at times, but there was also a lot of slippage at times, and that's what we've got to keep working on. The good thing is that we have so many guys who can make plays, and big plays when we really need it. You can see that we have so many weapons." Forward Corey Maggette is their biggest one off the bench.</div> Source
Gotta love it. It was only Atlanta, but it was a nice game. Marvin Williams bball IQ impressed me a lot, I really like his game. Brand just owned the Hawks frontline, it was a no contest situation there.
