To the surprise of no one, the Golden State Warriors appear to be a worse team when Steph Curry is sidelined. And so their six-game road trip — which followed a sensational 6-1 home-stand — got off to an ugly start on Saturday, with Curry staying home to nurse his pelvic contusion while his teammates lost to the Atlanta Hawks 124-115.
The NBA may be a league where large leads are eliminated on a regular basis, but sometimes you simply dig yourself too big of a hole, and that’s exactly what the Warriors did. Their defense was two steps slow out of the gates, and had no answer for the Hawks rapid ball movement and hot shooting. Atlanta needed just four minutes to score 19 points, and it wasn’t until after that start that they ran off with a 19-2 run, reaching a 20-point lead just 10 minutes into the action.
To add insult to injury, the first quarter ended in debilitating fashion, which seemed to sum up the game. After the Warriors found a little rhythm, Hawks star Trae Young somehow got away with three traveling violations in succession, and found Caris LeVert for a buzzer-beater, giving Atlanta a 40-23 lead.
The Warriors would outplay the Hawks for the next 36 minutes, but the damage was already done. Golden State had enough juice to outscore Atlanta, but not enough juice to outscore Atlanta by enough.
A comeback attempt began in the second quarter, when the team finally seemed interested in playing defense, while Jimmy Butler III got to punishing the Hawks in the paint, and bullying his way to the rim. Jonathan Kuminga tag-teamed in for Butler in that role, attacking Atlanta relentlessly and getting easy buckets at the rim.
The team was energized, and started to chip away at the lead, but then the Hawks caught fire once again, and pushed the lead back up to 19 points. The Warriors would respond well to close out the half, but still trailed 69-57 at the break, with the Hawks having shot 60.0% from the field.
We were offered a glimmer of hope to begin the second half. Quinten Post and Brandin Podziemski drained threes to start the action, and suddenly the Warriors were within six; but the Hawks responded with an 8-0 run. That was how the quarter went for the Warriors: they’d make a push, then the Hawks would return fire with an even bigger response. One step forward, two steps back, over and over again. The game slipped further and further away from the Dubs, who found themselves trailing 98-81 going into the final quarter.
At first they looked dead in the water, with the deficit dropping down to 22 points. And then something seemed to click for the Warriors. They started playing frantically, in the best way possible, frustrating the Hawks with their defensive activity, and getting open looks on the other end. The Warriors poured in 11 straight points, cutting the lead to 10 with just over four minutes left. A few possessions later, Moses Moody would sink a three to make it an eight-point game, with 2:38 still remaining.
It wasn’t enough, though. The Hawks once again had an answer, rejecting the Warriors final push and putting the game away for good with a few clutch baskets. The end result? A rough start to a long trip.
Butler led the Warriors with 25 points and eight assists, but uncharacteristically struggled at the free throw line (10-for-14), while having a rough game from deep (1-for-7). Moody had a very strong game, with 20 points, four rebounds, five assists, two steals, and a block, while Podziemski (19), Kuminga (16), Post (11), and Gary Payton II (11) all scored in double figures as well. But the Hawks shot 57.0% from the field and 41.7% from three-point range, a sign of both how hot their jumpers were, and how much of an off-day the Dubs’ defense had. Hard to win games when your opponent shoots that well.
Golden State now gets two off days as they travel to South Beach, before Butler makes his return to Miami against Andrew Wiggins and the Heat. Hopefully they can bounce back for that game, and get some positive Curry news along the way.
