The Los Angeles Clippers managed to come back from a 22-point trail to defeat the Atlanta Hawks 119-110 at Staples Center on Monday, putting an end to the opponents' eight-win-steak.

The Clippers were not in their best form as they lost six of the past 10 games. By contrast, the Hawks have already claimed eight straight wins, including defeating the Los Angeles Lakers last week.

The Hawks were not a good defensive team, but they took the correct defensive policy in the first half by challenging the Clippers intensely from the 3-point line. As a result, the Clippers were only 5-15 in triples in the first two quarters, and the Hawks drove a 34-18 run in the second quarter.

The Clippers' shooters continued to miss in the third quarter, and when Bogdan Bogdanovic made another layup to score two for the Hawks, they were already leading by 22 points (88-66).

Then the Clippers' head coach Tyronn Lue sent an odd lineup to the court: Nicolas Batum, Patrick Patterson, Amir Coffey, Terance Mann, and Luke Kennard. Patterson did not play at all in the first quarter. Coffey and Kennard did not even get one second in the first half.

Usually, this would seem like a sign of throwing the towel, and that's probably the message the Hawks head coach Nate McMillan received. That explained why he called a timeout and replaced Trae Young with Rajon Rondo.

However, the game was only in the third quarter, and the 22-point trail is not too big to wipe in 16 minutes. Having not realized that, the Hawks let their guard down.

The Clippers didn't, especially these guys who needed every point and rebound as leverage for their negotiation on the next contract. That's why Mann, Coffey, and Patterson tussled so hard for position and never hesitated to take the shot when they saw it.

Kennard's case is a bit different. He signed a four-year, $64 million contract extension with the Clippers during the offseason but gradually lost the trust of Lue and his time on the floor. Recently there were reports about the team interested in trading him for a point guard.

So Kennard's goal in the game is to prove his value. Even if he leaves LA one day, good stats will still secure him a decent role in the new team.

The joint efforts of these guys led to a 23-5 run by the Clippers before Lue put Kawi Leonard and Paul George back on the court. Somehow they were hot from downtown and carried on the team's scoring trend.

By contrast, even though Young and other starting players came back to the game as well for the Hawks, they lost their edge, and that's one interesting thing about the game: You could still hang on there in the toughest situation as long as bite the bullet; nonetheless, once you breathe a sigh, you can never get that spirit back again.

Mann's 21 points, 10 rebounds and Kennard's 21 points, 8-8 from the field and 4-4 from the arc, spoke for their work in the game.

Other games on Monday (away teams come first):

Sacramento Kings 119-105 Cleveland Cavaliers

In a contest between two young back-court pairs, De'Aaron Fox and Buddy Hield of the Kings beat Collin Sexton and Darius Garland of the Cavaliers at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse on Monday. Fox and Hield led a 27-17 run in the third quarter, which basically sealed the deal for the Kings.

The King's rookie guard Tyrese Haliburton went 11-15 in field goals to get 28 points. Since LaMelo Ball of the Charlotte Hornets was already ruled out for the season, Haliburton's chance of winning the Rookie of the Year award continued to grow.

Oklahoma City Thunder 112-103 Minnesota Timberwolves

The Thunder's bench squad made as important contributions as their leading scorer Shai Gilgeous-Alexander did to the road win over the Timberwolves. Alexander went 4-6 around the 3-point line to drop team-high 31 points. Four of his bench teammates Ty Jerome, Kenrich Williams, Svi Myhailiuk, and Justin Jackson, together scored 46 points, outperforming their Timberwolves counterparts.

Charlotte Hornets 100-97 San Antonio Spurs

Though LaMelo Ball was ruled out for the rest of the season, the Hornets still maintained their aggressiveness against the Spurs, drawing more free throws (20-14) in the game. Terry Rozier III and Gordon Hayward scored 51 points, 10 rebounds, and 12 assists while making 15 free throws together for the Hornets.

DeMar DeRozan and Derrick White contributed like usual with 28 and 21 points, respectively, but their teammates failed to come along. As a result, coach Gregg Popovich will have to wait for his 1,300th win.

Utah Jazz 120-95 Chicago Bulls

Donovan Mitchell and Rudy Gobert dominated the floor for the Jazz at United Center. Mitchell scored 30 points, and it was the third consecutive game for him to do so. Gobert put down 21 points, 10 rebounds, and career-high nine blocks. He delivered the most blocks among all players putting down 20 points and 10 rebounds in one game in the Jazz franchise history.

Compared with the above performance, draining 17 triples was no much better than average work for the Jazz.

Toronto Raptors 99-117 Houston Rockets

John Wall scored his first triple-double this season by getting 19 points, 11 rebounds, and 10 assists, though his 8-30 shooting performance did not look good. More importantly, the Rockets finally ended their embarrassing 20-loss-streak. The team celebrated it with a series of posts on Twitter.

By contrast, the Raptors suffered their ninth loss in a row. During the postgame interview, the team's guard Kyle Lowry received a call from DeRozan. If they are talking about joining hands in the future, it's about time.

Boston Celtics 126-132 Memphis Grizzlies

The Grizzlies are one of the worst offensive teams in the day's league, but they still scored 132 points against the Celtics at home. They delivered 38 assists and dropped 80 points in the paint. The Grizzlies also beat the Celtics in fast-break points (20-15) and turnover points (18-3).

The Celtics already fell to No. 8 in the Eastern Conference, and they are only 1.5 games above the No. 9 Bulls.

Indiana Pacers 113-140 Milwaukee Bucks

Giannis Antetokounmpo sat on Monday's home game, but his teammates smashed the Pacers with remarkable offense at Fiserv Forum. They were 24-39 from the 3-point line, led in rebounds (55-40), assists (35-27), and FG rate (56.38 percent-40.54 percent). If Brook Lopez and Bobby Portis both make one more shot, the Bucks will have five players to reach 20+points in one game.

Jrue Holiday had a double-double of 28 points and 14 assists. If he continues to play like this, the Bucks will not regret trading for him, at least not in this season.