The Best in the West meets the Beast from the East. In a matchup between two teams who have already clinched playoff berths with five weeks remaining, they will both be a bit shorthanded. The Warriors will not have Klay Thompson who will miss the next 7-10 days with a sprained ankle while the Hawks lost their sharpshooter to a broken nose. Both teams have the ability to drain the long ball and it shall be an interesting game. The Hawks were able to claim an eight point victory in their first meeting. Look for Stephen Curry to lead the troops at the Oracle.
1st Quarter
The Hawks got on the board first, but the Warriors were not far behind. The Dubs got up to an 8-4 lead, but they started giving the ball away. This lead to a 9-0 Atlanta run and Oracle was a little quiet. The Warriors had an immediate response, they went on a 10-0 run and they now led 20-13. Atlanta then came back with a 5-0 run and the Warriors’ lead was down to two. This was a heavyweight fight and they were exchanging blows, but for the Dubs, a lot of it was self inflicted with the turnovers. The Dubs ended the quarter with a 28-24 run, but you could tell this game was going to come down to a few possessions.
Curry Splash. https://t.co/RFzlvDbsUL. @warriorsworld
— Alex Torres (@alextorresww) March 19, 2015
2nd Quarter
Time for the second unit to come into the game and they quickly hit two buckets. Turnovers kept haunting them, which prevented them from increasing their lead. The Hawks went on a 7-2 run, so the deficit was down to one. If you guessed that another run was going to happen next, then you were absolutely right. The Dubs went on a 8-0 run thanks to Iguodala soaring over Oracle for two jams. The lead was now at nine and Oracle was rocking. The Hawks came right back, but so did the Warriors. The triples started falling for Curry and the Warriors were playing at their pace. DeMarre Carroll hit a triple to cut it down to four, but went on a 6-0 run to get the lead to double digits. The quarter ended with a Draymond three, which gave the Warriors a 12 point advantage going into the break.
Three and the foul. #Splash https://t.co/jcIeC4gGg2 @warriorsworld — Alex Torres (@alextorresww) March 19, 2015
3rd Quarter
Harrison Barnes didn’t waste not time to get on the board in the second half. He hit the first two buckets and the two heavyweights kept swinging away. The Warriors had a double digit lead, so they could keep this pace up. Both teams went on a scoring slump for about two minutes. Carroll hit a triple, Green responded with one of his own and Carroll came right back. The Warriors then came back with five straight points, which gave them a 13 point lead and the Hawks took a timeout. The Warriors were in control and the Hawks looked frustrated.The Dubs ended the quarter on a 14-3 run and they went up 19 going into the final period.
Andre flexin. https://t.co/LDbvYmskkB @warriorsworld
— Alex Torres (@alextorresww) March 19, 2015
4th Quarter
The Warriors picked up where they left off and kept hitting shots. The Hawks had not scored in seven minutes and the lead was getting out of control. The Warriors were sending a message and the Hawks had no response. Oracle was on their feet and the Warriors were up 26. All they had to do was hold on. It was raining triples at Oracle and the Warriors were having fun. Both teams had their reserves and the Hawks were just trying to make it look respectable.
Just don’t know how you beat the Warriors in a seven-game series.
— Chris Palmer (@ChrisPalmerNBA) March 19, 2015