The Golden State Warriors (49-5), seeking their 50th win of the season, were at Philips Arena to face the Atlanta Hawks (31-26).
Andrew Bogut returned to the starting lineup after sitting out the win against the Clippers two nights ago with a sore Achilles. Festus Ezeli (knee surgery) and James McAdoo (toe) remained unavailable. Anderson Varejao was in uniform, acquired last night after he cleared waivers, but not available to play.
The Hawks were without Tiago Splitter (hip).
1st Quarter – Humming
Stephen Curry made his first three-point try with 10:22 remaining, the Warriors’ first bucket, leaving him one shy of tonight’s opponent Kyle Korver’s NBA record of 127 consecutive games with a made three-pointer:
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Klay Thompson followed that up with a three, Harrison Barnes followed that one with yet another triple, while the Hawks missed four jumpers, committed two turnovers, but did get a bucket from Paul Millsap, a dunk putback by Al Horford, and a driving layup down the right side by Kent Bazemore.
But less than three seconds after Bazemore’s layup, Thompson got an early transition layup in return, Andrew Bogut blocked Millsap’s reverse layup attempt, and Curry went left baseline, spun into the lane, and dished a lefty sling pass to Barnes awaiting in the right corner.
Barnes swished the three, Atlanta head coach Mike Budenholzer screamed for a call on the previous possession and called timeout as Golden State busted out to an early 14-6 lead with 7:15 remaining.
Out of the timeout, Jeff Teague ended the Hawks’ drought with a step-back triple from the left arc, but Steph came back with a hesitation triple from the top that swished through, a low-key high-degree-of-difficulty launch:
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Korver and Bazemore missed threes, Klay hit a dribble-and-pop runner at the free throw line, Bogut stopped another attempt this time by Horford, and Draymond Green scored the resulting fast break layup to give the Warriors a 21-9 lead.
Curry added a tough layup going right-to-left into traffic and Andre Iguodala swished a spinning fade-away from the right baseline after Bogut got an offensive rebound tap off a missed three by Leandro Barbosa.
The Hawks couldn’t take advantage of rare miscues by the Warriors, as Green lost the ball on a simple dribble in the middle, but Thabo Sefalosha lost it right back on an errant bounce of his own, Curry taking it away and finishing with a beautiful finger roll, using his body to shield Dennis Schroeder and getting the banker to fall just before defensive help came from behind.
To finish the quarter off, Horford missed a jumper, Draymond rebounded, got it to Steph who crossed half court, burned the clock, ran pick-and-roll with Green, flipped to Green, who found Iguodala under the hoop, who found Barbosa from the left corner for a trey that swished through just before the buzzer:
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The vintage Warriors’ offense sent the team into the second quarter with a 30-15 lead as Curry led the way with 10 points and Thompson added 7. The Warriors shot 6-for-14 from beyond the arc.
2nd Quarter – Steph’in
Barnes stayed hot, as he drilled a three to begin the second quarter, then after Iguodala got a steal, slammed home a fast break layup:
.@barnes on the break! (CSNBA) pic.twitter.com/bPv9RSJUIF
— GoldenStateWarriors (@warriors) February 23, 2016
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Klay fed Marreese Speights for a layup and things were still humming as the Warriors stayed ahead by 15, 37-22.
But Tim Hardaway, Jr. swished a jumper, Horford went down the lane for a thunderous dunk after a missed three by Thompson, Speights turned the ball over although he got the ball back by taking a charge on Hardaway the next time down. and Horford drilled a jumper as Bogut was too late closing out.
That brought the Hawks to within seven, 37-30, with 7:08 to go.
Barnes stemmed the tide once more, going pinch post on the right side against Korver, stepping in to draw contact and stepping back off one leg to create space, swishing yet another jumper to give him 13 points on the night already.
Curry and Green were back in soon thereafter at the 6:20 mark and Steph made an immediate impact, chasing down a missed triple by Klay, only to find him again for the swish:
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The Warriors were back up by double-digits, 42-32.
Later, Teague got switched onto by Green, but Draymond blocked his attack and on the ensuing transition, Curry found Shaun Livingston cutting from the left wing to the middle, fed him, and Livingston finished the break with a one-handed hammer, also Steph’s sixth assist:
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After a Teague triple from the left corner and a nice runner by Millsap drawing contact from Green, the Hawks were back to within eight points, 45-37, with 2:25 left, when Curry dribbled towards the right side against Teague and swished this in his face:
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To add insult to injury, Curry took a charge on Teague on the next possession.
A timeout ensued and, out of the timeout, Steph drilled another three and Golden State was back up comfortably, 51-37, with 1:59 remaining.
Curry then went “tic-tac-toe” to Draymond, who found Iguodala once more on the right baseline. Andre took a dribble in, got in the air, drew a touch foul from Millsap, and converted not only the banker, but also the resultant “and one” free throw.
After Horford made two free throws on a power move against Barnes, Steph lasered a pass to Green down the middle for a dunk with 1:02 to play.
Later on the last possession, Curry dribbled down the right side again versus Teague, lost the ball, but got it back and launched a long two with 1.1 seconds to go.
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However, he fouled Teague on the inbound…
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…the refs reviewed the play, ruled a non-shooting foul, and Teague missed both free throws.
That gave the Warriors a 58-39 lead at halftime. Curry led all scorers with 19 points to go along with 7 assists, while Barnes had 13 points. Thompson had 10 points, as did Horford and Korver.
(Photo: @letsgowarriors Instagram account via @justjania)
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