Reserves fuel Clippers 96-82 win over Hawks

For as much as the Clippers have played inconsistent basketball over the last 1 1/2 months, for as much as they have struggled on the road and at home, they still had not lost three consecutive games all season.

That still is something the Clippers can hang on to after a 96-82 victory over the Atlanta Hawks on Wednesday night at Staples Center.

The Clippers had lost four of their last five and the first two of a six-game homestand, leading to concern about how they would break free of the doldrums.

“I was aware of that, yeah,” Clippers Coach Vinny Del Negro said about not having a three-game losing streak. “But that wasn’t something we talked about. I talked about doing your job, accepting your role, playing hard, don’t play as an individual and play as a team And I thought we did that better tonight.”

Thanks to the play of their bench, the Clippers got a much-needed victory hours before Thursday’s noon PDT trade deadline.

Strong shooting — the Clippers shot 54.3% overall — and the play of the reserves also allowed Chris Paul (13 points, nine assists), who didn’t wear the mask that he had worn the previous two games to protect an nasal fracture he suffered during last Friday’s San Antonio game, to play just 31 minutes 25 seconds.

Mo Williams, who has become the Clippers’ super-sub, led the team in scoring, producing 25 points on nine-for-18 shooting, three for five on three-pointers.

“My role is to come in and be aggressive,” Williams said. “I’m playing with the second unit, so I have to be aggressive each and every night even if I’m not shooting the ball well. I still have to be aggressive.”

The Hawks were at the end of a six-game trip, looking like a weary team playing on back-to-back nights, a team wanting to return home after a last-second loss at Denver on Tuesday night.

It wasn’t until the emergence of the Clippers’ second unit, the group that always seems to bring the energy, that the Clippers finally got some separation from the Hawks in the fourth quarter. Eric Bledsoe scored a season-high 14 points on five-for-eight shooting, two for three on three-pointers, including a three that gave the Clippers a 86-74 lead.

Bledsoe had eight of his points in the pivotal fourth quarter. He also had two of his four steals in the fourth.

“I just look to change the pace of the game,” Bledsoe said. “Whatever I can do by doing that, it helps us.”

Then there was Reggie Evans, Mr. Hustle, who finished with six points and 10 rebounds.

After Bledsoe got steal, Evans missed inside. But he got his own offensive rebound and scored while being fouled.

Though Evans missed the free throw, there were chants of “Re-ggie Re-ggie,” that rang out from the appreciative crowd that stood as the clock wound down on the Clippers’ win.

“I knew we hadn’t lost three in a row,” Williams said. “We knew this was a must-win for us. It was a bad taste in our mouth. Losing does that. A win always kind of cures a lot.”