SoCal NBA Capsule

By Jonathan Raber
SportsTicker Contributing Writer

LOS ANGELES (Ticker) -- Healthy or not, the Los Angeles Clippers found a momentary cure for their ills. Rookie Al Thornton scored a career-high 33 points as the undermanned Clippers stopped a three-game slide with a 95-88 victory over the Atlanta Hawks on Wednesday.

Tim Thomas finished with 14 points and nine rebounds and Sam Cassell added 14 points for the Clippers, who dressed only nine players for the second straight game due to injuries and illness. "I just tried to come out here and play hard, we've been in a drought," Thornton said. "We have two of our main guys, Corey (Maggette) and (Chris) Kaman out. I tried to step up and provide some scoring."

Los Angeles was again without its two top scorers, center Kaman and swingman Maggette, as both continue to sit out because of the flu. Thornton almost joined the duo on the bench as he also was feeling the effects of some flu-like symptoms, but turned out to be the Clippers' sparkplug against the Hawks. "I was able to get into a nice little rhythm, I was able to get into a zone and that was it," Thornton said. "My teammates kept coming to me, so I shot the ball."