Warriors at Hawks
Life without Kevin Durant is starting to get better for the Golden State Warriors, who conclude their five-game road trip Monday against the Atlanta Hawks after avoiding their first three-game losing streak since November 2013. Golden State defeated the New York Knicks 112-105 on Sunday after falling to Chicago 94-87 on Thursday to snap a 146-game run without back-to-back losses, one contest after Durant was lost for perhaps the rest of the regular season with a left knee injury.
"We're surviving to this point," Warriors coach Steve Kerr told reporters. "It was good to get a win without him (Sunday). This is how it's going to be for a while, so we have to get used to it." Guard Jose Calderon is expected to make his Atlanta debut after a whirlwind week in which he accepted a buyout from the Los Angeles Lakers, signed with Golden State on Wednesday, was let go two hours later and claimed off waivers by the Hawks on Saturday. Calderon made $415,000 in his brief tenure with the Warriors as Golden State honored its commitment to sign him but was forced to go in a different direction when it instead acquired forward Matt Barnes after Durant went down with a knee injury. Atlanta blew a six-point lead with 1:43 remaining Sunday in a 97-96 loss to Indiana when Glenn Robinson III's 3-pointer with 0.6 seconds left handed the Hawks (17-14 at home, 17-14 on the road) their fifth loss in seven contests and reduced their lead over the sixth-place Pacers to two games in the Eastern Conference.
TV: 7:30 p.m. ET, CSN Bay Area (Golden State), FSN Southeast (Atlanta)
ABOUT THE WARRIORS (51-11): Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson were a combined 11-for-64 from 3-point range during the first three games of the road trip before somewhat snapping out of their slumps Sunday. Curry recorded 31 points, eight rebounds and six assists while going 5-for-13 from beyond the arc, and Thompson scored 29 points and was 4-for-9 from deep. Barnes started Sunday and recorded three points, three rebounds, two assists and two steals in 19 minutes in the second game of his second stint with Golden State, which leads San Antonio by 2 1/2 games for the NBA's best record.
ABOUT THE HAWKS (34-28): Tim Hardaway Jr. (13.5 points per game) extended his career-best streak of double-figure scoring games to 17 with 24 against Indiana, which came on the heels of a career-high 36 versus Cleveland on Friday. Dwight Howard (13.4 points, 12.8 rebounds) had his string of four double-doubles snapped Sunday when he recorded nine points and 14 rebounds. Paul Millsap scored 23 points against Indiana to increase his team-best average to 18.1.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. Atlanta coach Mike Budenholzer returns to the bench after he was suspended Sunday for bumping a referee during Friday's 135-130 loss to Cleveland.
2. Curry has 1,833 career 3-pointers and moved past Chauncey Billups (1,830) on Sunday into 10th on the all-time NBA list. Joe Johnson is ninth with 1,903.
3. The Warriors won four straight meetings with the Hawks, including 105-100 on Nov. 28 in the first of two encounters this season behind 25 points from Curry and 20 from Thompson.