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Trae Young, Hawks Rout Warriors with Stephen Curry Out Due to Tailbone Injury
March 27, 2021
The Atlanta Hawks moved back over .500 with a 124-108 road win over the Golden State Warriors on Friday at Chase Center in San Francisco.
The Hawks frontcourt proved to be the difference in a game Atlanta led 70-52 at halftime.
Forward John Collins posted a career-high 38 points on 14-of-19 shooting (4-of-5 from three-point range) and 12 rebounds, and Clint Capela added 18 points on 8-of-10 shooting, 15 rebounds and three blocks. Point guard Trae Young contributed 21 points and a game-high 15 assists.
Andrew Wiggins led the Dubs with 29 points on 10-of-19 shooting.
Golden State played without point guard Stephen Curry (bruised tailbone), and Jordan Poole replaced him in the starting lineup. Hawks forward DeAndre Hunter (right knee soreness) did not play either.
The Hawks broke a two-game losing streak and are now 9-2 under head coach Nate McMillan, who took over for the fired Lloyd Pierce earlier this month. Atlanta's 23-22 record is good enough for a fifth-place tie with the New York Knicks in the Eastern Conference.
The 22-24 Warriors have lost four straight games and currently sit 10th in the West.
Notable Performances
Hawks PG Trae Young: 21 points, 15 assists
Hawks PF John Collins: 38 points, 12 rebounds
Hawks C Clint Capela: 18 points, 15 rebounds, 3 blocks
Warriors F Andrew Wiggins: 29 points, 7 rebounds
Warriors C James Wiseman: 18 points, 5 rebounds
Warriors G Jordan Poole: 15 points, 4 assists
Collins and Capela Show in San Francisco
The Hawks' starting frontcourt combined for 56 points on 22-of-29 shooting, 27 rebounds, three blocks and three steals.
Sure, they were playing a shorthanded Warriors team missing their superstar point guard, but that's an incredible day at the office for Collins and Capela, who guided the Hawks to a comfortable road win.
Capela set the tone early, muscling his way to the first bucket of the game:
Young kept looking for Capela in the second quarter, finding him on a lob to extend the Hawks' lead:
Meanwhile, Collins was perfect from the field and nailed all seven of his shots.
He continued his torrid pace in the second half, as he was rewarded for running down the court with this easy flush:
Collins was frankly unstoppable, slicing through a pair of Warrior defenders for another bucket:
He was also a walking bucket from three, hitting all but one of his five shots from downtown:
The Hawks shook off their two-game losing streak with an emphatic win thanks to Capela and Collins, and they'll look to keep the momentum rolling in Denver.
Wiggins Excels in Defeat, But Warriors Can't Match Hawks' Firepower
Almost nothing went right for the Warriors on Friday.
Granted, losing a player who averages 29.0 points a game in Curry placed the Warriors in an unideal situation against a Hawks team that landed in San Francisco as winners of eight of its last 10.
However, the Warriors just didn't have it from the jump. The Hawks took a seven-point lead into the second quarter and entered the locker room at halftime up 18. They led by double digits for the entire second half and were up by as many as 24 en route to the 16-point win.
The primary bright spot was Wiggins, who led the Warriors offense in Curry's absence. He's dominated in a handful of games recently, notably dropping 40 in a win against the Memphis Grizzlies. The former Kansas star has also dominated from long range, as NBC's Grant Liffmann noted:
The problem was that Wiggins didn't get enough help in a game that developed into a track meet, with Steve Berman of The Athletic harkening back to old Warriors days when Antawn Jamison carried the offense:
Poole did well with 15 points, knocking down three three-pointers. James Wiseman was also second on the team with 18 points. Simply put, though, the Warriors didn't have the firepower to compete with a Hawks team that out-rebounded them 45-33 and out-scored them 60-38 in the paint.
What's Next?
Golden State will host Chicago on Monday at 10 p.m. ET. Atlanta will visit the Denver Nuggets at Ball Arena on Sunday at 9 p.m.