ORACLE ARENA, OAKLAND, CA — The Atlanta Hawks were in town to face the Golden State Warriors. The notable absences were Klay Thompson for the Warriors, who sprained his ankle two nights ago, and Kyle Korver for the Hawks, although the Hawks were also without bench players Mike Scott (toe) and Thabo Sefalosha (calf).
The night also marked the return of Kent Bazemore for Atlanta and he started in place of Korver.
1ST QUARTER: Too Many Turnovers, But Dubs Hit Shots
The Warriors didn’t come out sharp, committing 5 early turnovers in the first six minutes of the opening frame. There was a bad outlet by Stephen Curry trying to look downcourt, a poor swing pass by Justin Holiday up top trying to feed Curry, then turnovers by Andrew Bogut, Harrison Barnes, and Bogut again that resulted in a 9-0 Hawks run, giving Atlanta an early 13-8 lead with 7:32 to play in the first period.
However, the Warriors were getting the ball inbounded quickly and making their shots. After Bazemore made a jumper assisted by Al Horford, Curry threw a touchdown pass to Holiday. Golden State made the extra pass as Draymond Green drilled an early three from up top after Barnes drove baseline and found Holiday open in the corner, who found Green at the wing.
Barnes had a good start, saving a high pass from Green on the baseline to Curry, who got the ball and launched a three.
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Barnes also got a strong right-handed drive to trickle in from the right side. After drilling a long two-pointer, Curry probed the Atlanta defense and found a seam, then jumped and, at the last moment before committing a travel, dished to Andre Iguodala wide open underneath for a bucket.
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Barnes then got a dunk and-one on a baseline out-of-bounds play, as the Hawks bit on Leandro Barbosa‘s up-cut from the box and ignored the backdoor from Harrison. Shortly thereafter, Barnes finished a cut with a two-handed slam, cutting to the hoop and getting the feed from Leandro Barbosa.
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The Warriors were back up, 24-18, with 2:27 to go.
But Paul Millsap, who had swished an early triple, was hot, and got a running right-handed baseline fade-away over Iguodala to drop, with the foul, then go a hard drive right-handed again against Green this time, dropping the bucket as he faded away from Draymond’s outstretched arm.
On the final possession, Curry made an errant pass off Shelvin Mack‘s leg, yet another unforced error, one of seven in the first frame for the Warriors, and John Jenkins scored the run-out layup to make it 26-24, Warriors, with 25 ticks remaining.
Curry drew a foul on a stop-and-pop at the free throw line, made both, and James Michael McAdoo got the call early with 4.9 seconds remaining, subbing in for Green. It was a smart sub by Warriors head coach Steve Kerr, as Jeff Teague took the inbound near halfcourt, streaked easily right by Curry, but found himself chased by McAdoo, who got a piece of his layup that went too hard as the buzzer sounded.
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Golden State took a 28-24 lead going in to the second period, shooting 11-for-20 from the field but committing 7 turnovers. Barnes led the Dubs with 9 points and Curry added 7 points, 4 assists, and 2 turnovers. Millsap led the Hawks with 10 points while Teague added 3 steals. Al Horford started out cold for Atlanta, missing his first 4 shots and grabbing just one rebound.
2ND QUARTER: Andre Sparks The Warriors
The bench unit came in and did well to keep the Warriors buffer intact. Shuan Livingston had a nice jump-stop, gather, and spin fade-away in the paint to make it 32-26, Golden State.
Then Iguodala managed to get his right shoulder past the defending Bazemore on the dribble drive, and skied in for a left-handed dunk over Horford.
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Horford answered with a layup fed by a driving Mack, but Barnes displayed an impressive left-handed inside-out dribble on the left elbow against Horford in return, fading for the swish.
Marreese Speights then got a steal and Iguodala received the ball and got a step inside the lane against Teague and calmly drained the jumper.
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Iguodala wasn’t done. After Horford’s shot went too hard, Speights got the board and outlet to Livingston, who found Iguodala this time for the right-handed flush. Oracle was on its feet and Atlanta head coach Mike Budenholzer called timeout with 7:17 remaining in the half and the Warriors up, 42-33.
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Green caught fire to finish out the half. After Curry got stuck in the right corner with two Hawks defenders, spinning away and launching a three that got block out of bounds on the baseline by DeMarre Carroll, Green received the inbound catch and, with the shotclock about the expire, launched a jumper from around his hip that dropped in as the buzzer sounded. On the way back on defense, he yelled something to his own Warriors bench.
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But Carroll pulled up for a splash from beyond the arc, although Livingston answered back with a dunk off of a nice spin on the baseline in the right block.
After a Dennis Shroder layup attempt went too hard off the board, Green got the rebound, raced up the court and found a trailing Curry for a triple from downtown, with Teague adding a foul for a four-point play.
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The three dramatic buckets gave the Warriors the separation they were looking for, as Golden State took a 49-40 lead with 4:22 to go.
After Green rattled in another trey, Horford missed yet another shot, his 9th miss in 11 tries. Bogut dove for the loose ball, found Green, who found Curry, who then advanced the ball ahead to the streaking Iguodala, who converted a layup plus the harm. His free throw gave the Warriors a 55-45 lead with 1:14 remaining.
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Green added another triple to his statline, as after a timeout, Kerr had Curry receive a high-post pass, causing the Hawks to retreat off Draymond a bit. Green’s swish made it 59-47 with 44.9 seconds remaining. The half would close out with Horford missing again, then Holiday missing a three-pointer.
The Warriors were led by four players with exactly 11 points: Barnes, Green, Curry, and Iguodala. Curry added 8 assists and Bogut 10 rebounds, 2 blocks, but 4 turnovers. The Hawks were led by Millsap’s 10 from the first quarter and Teague with 8, as Golden State held Atlanta to 15-for-44 (34.1%) shooting. The Warriors also out-rebounded the Hawks, 25-17, and assisted on 20 of their 24 field goals made.
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