Hawks at Warriors
The Golden State Warriors won without standout forward Draymond Green last time out and may have to do it again when they host the struggling Atlanta Hawks on Monday night. Green missed Saturday’s 115-102 triumph against Minnesota with a left ankle contusion and is questionable for the matchup with the Hawks as the Warriors go after their 12th consecutive victory.
“You just have to do it a different way,” Golden State All-Star guard Stephen Curry told reporters Saturday of Green’s absence. “As the game went on (the offensive flow) seemed very, very similar to the way we’re used to playing. It was good to see that.” The Warriors have won their last four games by an average of 29.3 points with Curry, Kevin Durant and Klay Thompson leading the way for the league’s top offense (118.4 per game). Atlanta got off to a strong start with nine wins in 11 games, averaging 107.8 points, but has dropped five of six since after a 109-94 loss at the Los Angeles Lakers on Sunday. Kent Bazemore had 21 points against the Lakers to lead the Hawks, who blew a 13-point lead.
TV: 10:30 p.m. ET, FSN Southeast (Atlanta), CSN Bay Area (Golden State)
ABOUT THE HAWKS (10-7): Bazemore broke out of a three-game slump in which he scored 12 points total on 4-of-28 shooting, but guards Dennis Schroder and Kyle Korver made just eight of their 25 attempts. Leading scorer Paul Millsap (16.2) scored just nine on Sunday for an offense that has produced 90.3 points per game over the last six outings. “We have to execute,” Bazemore told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “We got away with it early in the year. As teams start to lock in on us and turn up the pressure, we’ve struggled.”
ABOUT THE WARRIORS (15-2): Curry reached the 30-point mark for the sixth time in 11 games Saturday and is averaging 26.7 overall, second on the team behind Durant (27.2). Durant, who has drained 8-of-14 from 3-point range the last three contests, is shooting 57.4 percent from the field and 44.6 from behind the arc while adding 8.1 rebounds and 4.8 assists. Thompson has raised his level of play over the last six games, averaging 24.8 points and draining 21 from behind the arc in that span to push his scoring average to 20.7.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. Atlanta C Dwight Howard is shooting 60.7 percent from the field while averaging 14.4 points and 12.7 rebounds in his first season with his hometown team.
2. Golden State G Ian Clark is also questionable because of head and throat injuries he sustained in Friday’s game against the Lakers.
3. The Warriors have won eight of the last nine meetings, including a 109-105 overtime triumph at home March 1.