NEW YORK (AP) Chris Paul is in uniform but won't start for the Los Angeles Clippers against the New York Knicks because of a mild left groin strain.

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I tend to agree with the assessment made a couple months back by Trey Kerby at The Basketball Jones that Ivan Johnson should be one of everybody's favorite players. There's so many reasons to root for Johnson — the novelty of his status as a 28-year-old rookie who appeared on the NBA scene as if from nowhere (perfectly enough) in this weirdo lockout-shortened season; the eccentricity of a legitimate NBA forward who rocks diamond fronts during games and freely admits he  doesn't really watch basketball ; the underdog narrative of a player who went from overseas-and-D-League journeyman to key frontcourt rotation piece on the playoff-bound Atlanta Hawks this year, pretty much through hard work, toughness and sheer force of will; and so on. It's hard to find reasons to root against a guy like that. Unless you're Nick Young, that is. If you're Nick Young, and you were the object of Johnson's frustration following a terrible turnover during the Tuesday night matchup between his Hawks and your Los Angeles Clippers, then it's OK to not be such a big fan of his. For a little while, at least. Johnson had six points, seven rebounds and a pair of blocks, including this clean and monstrous erasure of Young, in the Hawks' 109-102 home win over the Clippers. The win helped Atlanta (39-26) maintain a one-game lead in the standings over the Boston Celtics (38-27), whom they'll face in the first round of the playoffs, keeping them in line to snare home-court advantage in the series despite Boston's claim to a higher seed as the champions of the Atlantic Division.

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The Los Angeles Clippers can't win the Pacific Division, but they can still earn home-court advantage in the first round of the Western Conference playoffs.

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The Atlanta Hawks and Los Angeles Clippers meet Tuesday night at Philips Arena, and they are in similar positions of closing in on home-court advantage in the first round of the playoffs.

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The Los Angeles Clippers could still win the Pacific Division. However, the chances are very slim. In order to win the division, the Clips will need to win their final two games and the Lakers will need to lose their final contest of the season. Both of these scenarios are possible, but they are also pretty unlikely. Here is why the Clippers will likely have to settle for the fourth seed in the Western Conference.

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The Los Angeles Clippers posted an impressive win on Monday night, notching a 92-77 home victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder — their second straight over the Kevin Durant- and Russell Westbrook-led crew — to extend their winning streak to four and stay just a game back of the Los Angeles Lakers for the No. 3 seed in the Western Conference with five games to play. It was an impressive win that saw some impressive performances off the L.A. bench, which chipped in 36 points on just under 50 percent shooting for the game, plus 17 rebounds, five assists, four steals and two blocks. After the game, Clippers guard Nick Young — who did the lion's share of the damage, leading the Clips in scoring with 19 points on 10 shots in reserve duty — dapped up his fellow second-unit players for their contributions. From Beth Harris of The Associated Press : ''We're one of the best second units in the league,'' said Young, who joined the Clippers a month ago in a trade from Washington. ''I'm excited. I was waiting for one of these type of games. To get it tonight against one of the league's top teams was great.'' It's good for Nick Young to think that — I'm sure coach Vinny Del Negro doesn't want his reserves to think that they stink or anything, and a Nick Young without confidence is a Nick Young less likely to take quite as many irrational long jumpers. (Wait, that might be a good thing.) Realistically, though, he is wrong, and he's pumping the L.A. reserves' tires in a way that defies reality. The Clippers bench is not one of the best benches in the league. Like, definitely not.

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With the Golden State Warriors clearly out of the playoff picture, head coach Mark Jackson and the rest of the organization have decided to shut down David Lee for the rest of the season due to hip and groin injuries. Lee missed his second game of the season on Saturday in their loss to the Los Angeles Clippers and his absence was felt from the start. With the first quarter nearly halfway over, the Warriors looked completely out of sync, scoring a total of just five points while giving up 24.

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As of April 15, 2012, the Los Angeles Lakers, Los Angeles Clippers and Phoenix Suns are the remaining playoff hopefuls from the Western Conference's Pacific Division for the 2011-12 NBA season. The Lakers and Clippers are battling for the regular-season championship of their division. The Suns are just trying to snatch one of the final seeds in the Western Conference playoffs.

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Los Angeles Clippers forward and Lob City deputy mayor Blake Griffin has had an interesting season, playing for a team that's fully in the playoff picture but nevertheless seeing his popularity dip among NBA diehards because of perceived behavioral issues. Simply put, Griffin jaws at opponents and complains about calls a lot, to the point where he can come across as a bit of a jerk. Everybody's favorite highlight-maker isn't quite the same. [ Related: Kobe Bryant meets 105-year-old Lakers fan ] The highlights are still there, though, and on Wednesday night he had two of the best dunks of the year for any player. The first came not even 90 seconds into the game, when Randy Foye missed a corner three and Griffin followed it up with a thunderous putback over Pau Gasol. People started making fun of Gasol for looking like he was riding a rollercoaster , and his bad night was sealed. Except things somehow got worse for Pau in the third quarter, when Griffin tried his best to recreate his stellar dunk on Kendrick Perkins from earlier this season. Check that one out after the jump.

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DALLAS - Randy Foye had 28 points with a career-high eight three-pointers and the Los Angeles Clippers won their sixth consecutive game, 94-75 over the Dallas Mavericks on Monday night for their longest winning streak in two decades.

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