Warriors-Hawks: Golden State Shows Poise With Victory Over Atlanta

The Golden State Warriors did the unthinkable beating the Atlanta Hawks. Previously, I had Warriors' remaining schedule">dissected the Warriors' remaining schedule including this January seven-game homestand. I had them going 6-1 with their only loss to these Atlanta Hawks.

When the Warriors lost in triple overtime against the Sacramento Kings, I thought that they were going to get outworked and outplayed by the Hawks.

The 119-114 truimph over the Hawks last night was definitely a great one for this young team. For one, forward Stephen Jackson had returned from a hamstring injury. He showed his toughness, heart, and the reason behind the fans' love for him. Jackson was supposed to be at least another week to three weeks.

However, with the injuries to guards Marco Belinelli (sprained ankle) and CJ Watson (turf toe), Jackson took one for the team and returned after missing only four games.

The more impressive thing though, was the Warriors' determination. After getting no calls and having horrible foul calls against them, they battled and held off the Hawks.

Yes, I do understand that officials have a tough job, but when these calls could be made by a seventh grader, there's something wrong.

The calls by official Bob Delaney and the rest of his crew were horrendous. I like Jim Barnett's (Warriors' play-by-play analyzer) reaction after Andris Biedrins picked up his fifth foul. Barnett said, "What is Biedrins supposed to do? Should he just give (Josh) Smith a dunk and run towards the Hawks' bench?" 

After the fifth foul called on Biedrins, the Hawks went on a run. In fact, the Warriors were up 12, 100-88, at that time. After Biedrins was taken out, the Hawks went on an 18-2 run to give them the biggest lead of the half, 106-102. 

The Warriors brought Biedrins back into the game and the Warriors immediately went on an 8-2 run, which included Jackson hitting a big shot after he had missed his last eight. 

The Warriors almost lost the game after Biedrins went out. The Warriors started taking too many jumpers from the outside, including a couple of threes that shouldn't have been taken. Ultimately though, the Warriors prevailed.

During the first half, it was all Joe Johnson for the Hawks. He went 8-11 from the field and scored 21 points. It didn't seem to matter who the Warriors put on Johnson, he just couldn't be stopped. He ended up going 9-20 from the field with 25 points for teh game.

In the second half, he was held to just four points and 1-9 shooting.

The only saving grace for the Warriors was that Mike Bibby went 0-7 from the field and Smith seemed lost in the first half. 

Even with Johnson so hot, Jackson had 14 points at half time including 3-4 from beyond the arc.

Biedrins was making his presence felt. He even showed the ability to use his off-hand  to make an impressive looking hook-shot. 

With 31 seconds left before half-time, a rare sighting of guard Marcus Williams was seen. The Hawks immediately went after Williams and with good ball movement, they were able to cut the Warriors' lead to two points at that point.

Yet, it gave the Warriors plenty of time to set up a play and it happened to be a kick out to Williams who buried his only shot of the game; a three pointer to put the lead at five going into the break. 

Jamal Crawford shot well from the floor after a slow start and finished the game with 29 points and four assists, including a great over the shoulder pass to the streaking Ronny Turiaf for a huge dunk. 

Most vitally, the Warriors were able to see what pricey off-season aquisition Corey Maggette can actually do. Last night, he was an unstoppable force and now I realize why he struggled so mightily from the free throw line against the Kings because of a bad finger. 

Maggette was part of the reason the Warriors were able to out-rebound the Hawks, 47-39. Maggette reverted back to his Clippers days finally. He got the line 14 times and this time, made his free throws. He went 12-14 from the line which is much better than the 4-12 he shot against the Kings.

Maggette finished the night going 6-9 from the floor as mentioned, but was a beast on the glass both offensively and defensively. He finished the game with a game high 16 rebounds.

For the most part, the Warriors were able to make their free throws. They hit at 82 percent from the line as a team.

The Warriors played a solid game, while not allowing the horrible officiating to do too much damage. Every run that the Hawks made, the struggling Warriors were able to respond to.