Atlanta Hawks (53-14) at Golden State Warriors (53-13)
Tip-off: Monday, March 18th, 2015 – 7:30PM PDT
Location: Oracle Arena, Oakland CA
TV: ESPN & CSN Bay Area | Radio: KNBR 680 AM
Livetweet: @LetsGoWarriors #LetsGoWarriorsLive
Projected Starting Lineups:
Warriors
PG: Stephen Curry (23.5 PPG, 4.4 RPG, 7.8 APG)
SG: Justin Holiday (4.2 PPG, 1.2 RPG, 0.7 APG)
SF: Harrison Barnes (10.1 PPG, 5.7 RPG, 1.4 APG)
PF: Draymond Green (11.7 PPG, 8.2 RPG, 3.6 APG)
C: Andrew Bogut (6.3 PPG, 8.0 RPG, 2.6 APG)
Head Coach: Steve Kerr (52-13, .803)
Hawks
PG: Jeff Teague (16.6 PPG, 2.4 RPG, 7.2 APG)
SG: Kent Bazemore (5.1 PPG, 2.8 RPG, 1.0 APG)
SF: DeMarre Carroll (12.0 PPG, 5.2 RPG, 1.5 APG)
PF: Paul Millsap (16.9 PPG, 8.0 APG, 3.0 APG)
C: Al Horford (15.3 PPG, 7.4 RPG, 3.3 APG)
Head Coach: Mike Budenholzer (91-58, .611)
Last Times Out
LAST WARRIORS GAME: On Monday, 3/16/2015, the Warriors defeated the Lakers, 108-105, as Klay Thompson led all scorers with 26 points.
LAST HAWKS GAME: On Monday, 3/15/2015, the Hawks defeated the Kings, 110-103, in Sacramento. Bazemore started in place of Kyle Korver, who had broken his nose in a game at the Lakers on Sunday.
LAST WARRIORS-HAWKS MATCHUP: On 2/6/2015, the Hawks defeated the Warriors, 124-116, in Atlanta, as the Hawks’ four bench players scored 39 points and 15 of the Hawks’ 38 field goals made were three-pointers.
LAST WARRIORS-HAWKS MATCHUP AT ORACLE: On 3/7/2014, Golden State defeated Atlanta, 111-94, as Jermaine O’Neal scored 17 points off the bench.
Game Notes
RT @ESPNStatsInfo: The #ATLHawks and #Warriors (730p PDT, ESPN) are dominating in similar ways http://t.co/7OkmxHlL5K pic.twitter.com/tvMzXufRjR
— Let’s Go Warriors 💦💛💙 (@LetsGoWarriors) March 18, 2015
Monte Poole, CSN Bay Area:
Postgame X-rays were negative, but head trainer JoHan Wang informed Kerr late Monday night that there was considerable swelling.
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“This morning after they looked at it,” Kerr said, “they decided we’d better give it some time.”
Rusty Simmons, San Francisco Chronicle:
Thompson, who played every game his first two seasons and finally missed a game in year three to attend in grandfather’s funeral, returned to Monday’s game at 8:40 of the fourth quarter. He went 2-for-6 down the stretch, and after the game, he could barely walk in the locker room because of the swelling.
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“It’s swollen. We’re treating it how it should be. This is not about anything other than he’s got a sprained ankle, it’s swollen and he needs to be out for a little bit,” said Kerr, who was told that X-rays were negative. “He said it didn’t hurt that bad, at all. … A lot of times, the adrenaline just carries you through during the game. I think that’s probably what happened. It was just normal postgame swelling, and it turned out to be a little more than we expected. …
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“The main thing is to get him right, and we have time.”
Ethan Strauss, ESPN.com:
The Warriors are playing catch-up, to hear Kerr tell it.
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“They get to the next level of their offense,” he said of Atlanta’s multilayered attack. “We take away the first option, they automatically get to the second. You take that one, they automatically and fluidly get to the third option. Very few teams do that. We don’t. We’re not there yet. … They’re two years into their work with their staff. This is our first year.”
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If the Warriors aren’t there yet, then theirs is a future that should terrify the league. Golden State currently has the top offensive rating. And it should surprise no one that the Warriors and Hawks are Nos. 1 and 2 in assists per game.
- “Kerr said he could play Stephen Curry more minutes with Thompson unavailable, but it wouldn’t be a dramatic increase…Stephen Curry said Klay Thompson is ‘pretty optimistic.’ Said knowing Klay, he’d probably say he could play tonight.” — Diamond Leung, Bay Area News Group
- “Justin Holiday was not at #Warriors shootaround. Excused for personal reasons. Will be available tonight.” — Monte Poole, CSN Bay Area
- “Kent Bazemore will start for Hawks in place of Kyle Korver vs. Warriors.” — Chris Vivlamore, Atlanta Journal-Constitution
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