This is a continuation of the halftime recap of the Golden State Warriors at the Atlanta Hawks.
The game was even at 52-52 heading into the second half.
3RD QUARTER: Curry Has To Make Up For Early Team Lapse
Harrison Barnes started the second half with a driving hook, but the Hawks rattled off 9 straight unanswered points as Al Horford got a layup and Paul Millsap a jumper, followed by a catch-and-pivot three-pointer by Kyle Korver over Klay Thompson, followed by another Horford layup.
Then Jeff Teague drilled a three-pointer after Draymond Green corralled a missed free throw by Andrew Bogut, but threw the ball straight to Korver while falling out of bounds on the baseline. Warriors head coach Steve Kerr called timeout and with 9:06 left to go in the quarter, Atlanta was up, 64-55.
Curry then put the Warriors on his back, getting fouled on a three-pointer and making all three from the charity stripe. Green got beat on a spin move in the post by Horford, but Horford hooked Green with his opposite arm in the process, and it was Horford’s fourth personal, sending him to the bench.
After Harrison Barnes scored a strong layup at the rim after crossing Korver over up top as a result of Curry being unsuccessful getting free on a screen at the baseline, Curry faked a trey on Teague, then launched it and it dropped, trimming the Atlanta lead to 70-66 with 6:26 to go.
Klay then got a trey on early offense after Millsap missed two free throws…
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…added a stop-and-pop after left-handed dribble penetration, and Curry got a banker to fall as Thompson came to set an on-ball pick:
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Curry also got another triple to fall after stopping on a dime as the Hawks pick-and-roll defense tried to contain him.
But the Hawks role players refused to let the Warriors’ superstars steal the show, as DeMarre Carroll answered with a trey from the left side, Bazemore added a lefty layup on the right side after a crossover up top, and Mike Scott hit two three-pointers.
With 7.7 seconds left, Curry drew penalty free throws forty feet out as Bazemore was caught hand-checking. The Hawks took an 89-85 lead into the final frame as Curry tallied 15 points in the 3rd quarter.
4TH QUARTER: Hawks Bench Answers Every Call
The Hawks’ bench continued its dominant play as Dennis Shroder equalized a Thompson catch-and-pivot trey by hitting his own from downtown, then finding himself switched on David Lee and draining a pull-up jumper in front of the isolated Lee. That gave Atlanta a 98-90 lead with 9:12 to play.
Even after Green deflected a Shroder pass that led to a run-out dunk by Draymond, assisted by Barnes, Scott made a jump hook over Barnes to give him 14 points in 14 minutes of play.
Green would draw a charge on Horford, Horford’s fifth personal, plus a technical, then put back a missed Klay trey, but follow that up picking up his own fourth personal while defending Millsap and picking up a technical in the process. The Warriors had fought back to make it 102-99 with six minutes to play at that point.
With time running out and the Warriors yet to catch fire at any point in the game, Thompson was iso’ed on Teague on the left baseline and Klay got a block on the layup attempt, but on the other end, Andre Iguodala missed a three-pointer, then after the Warriors got the offensive rebound, clanked a baseline jumper that bounced out for a Teague runout fastbreak.
Curry answered with a reverse layup going left-to-right through the paint with no other Warrior in sight, cutting the Hawks’ lead to 106-101 with 4:33 to play and giving Steph 24 points on the night, but once again the Atlanta bench slammed the door back in Golden State’s face, as Scott made a catch-and-shoot trey from straightaway in Barnes’ face.
Curry, Thompson, and Green played “tic-tac-toe”, but another three-pointer by the Hawks, this time from Korver, slapped the Warriors back in the face.
Atlanta’s totals from downtown were staggering at that point: 15-for-26 compared to Golden State’s 11-for-28, with Bazemore, Shroder, and Scott combining for 7-for-7.
An Iguodala three-pointer maintained the Warriors’ hope with a 114-106 Hawks lead with 2:55 to play, after Green hustled and missed two tip-ins — two of his incredible 20 rebounds for the game — and a Thompson drive that dropped after hanging in mid-air to draw the foul by Millsap, left the game still in the balance.
But Barnes missed a wide-open three-pointer from the left corner after good ball movement between Curry and Green, and Carroll made a cutting layup on the other end. A Barnes trey would have cut the lead to 114-111 with just a minute-and-a-half remaining, but instead, Carroll’s bucket made it 116-108 with 1:30 remaining.
The Warriors would try everything they could to make up the margin, but the Hawks wouldn’t let them shoot any threes and the final score was 124-116.
The Warriors committed 14 turnovers, but Atlanta’s four bench players scored 39 points and 15 of the Hawks’ 38 field goals made were three-pointers. Teague finished just 5-for-15 from the floor but 11-for-11 from the line, with a team-leading 23 points. Millsap added 21 and Korver nailed 5 triples.
Thompson led the Dubs with 29 points and Curry added 26 points, 9 assists in the loss.
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