NBA scores: Draymond Green’s defense leads Warriors past Hawks

The Golden State Warriors would have been excused for coming out slow Wednesday night vs Atlanta Hawks. Coming off a disappointing and dramatic loss to the LA Clippers on Monday, they were hit with brutal news Wednesday afternoon: Starting shooting guard De’Anthony Melton will undergo season-ending surgery on his sprained ACL.

But they didn’t come out slowly. Instead, they came out swinging. A fun first quarter saw the teams go back and forth for a while until the Dubs turned on the burners. A standout defensive performance — led by Draymond Green’s superstar defense and Lindy Waters III putting the clamps on high school teammate Trae Young — forced Atlanta’s top-10 offense to go cold as the offense took off. An absurd 24-2 run put the Dubs in control, and they would never relinquish that control. That run was part of a 27–7 run to end the quarter, which gave Golden State a 41–22 lead at the end of the frame, and their highest first quarter point total.

For a while in the second quarter, it looked like the Dubs might want to give that lead back. They flirted with getting a little sloppy and allowed Atlanta’s offense to find some life. The Hawks began to bother the Warriors with their abundance of wingspan and athleticism as they got their hands on passes, shots and offensive rebounding opportunities.

But the Warriors never let the lead slide much, and a superb two-on-one sequence punctuated the half: a Green missed three was collected by Andrew Wiggins, who put the ball right back in. On the other end, Steph Curry poked the ball away from Dyson Daniels and then found Wiggins alone in transition for an uncontested dunk. After Atlanta missed a three at the buzzer, the Warriors went to the locker room with a 67-42 lead, thanks to 13 points from Curry and 11 each from Wiggins and Buddy Hield.

In the third quarter, the Warriors didn’t seem to care that they had a 25-point lead … at least not at first. Green found Trayce Jackson-Davis on a lob to start the action and then, after a stop at the other end, Curry found Jackson-Davis on another lob (which was not converted, but TJD was fouled and made both shots). After a Wiggins bucket, the Dubs had scored six straight to open the half and opened up a 31-point lead.

And then the collapses they’ve had in recent games began to taunt the Warriors. The offense went ice cold and Atlanta chipped away, and chipped away, and chipped away. Visions of another blown lead danced through your head as the Hawks outscored the Warriors 33-17 after the opening Golden State run, making it a 15-point game in the fourth quarter.

That 15-point game became a 13-point game on Atlanta’s first possession, and you took a deep breath. And then the Warriors returned.

They rattled off a 5-0 run and, thanks in large part to some explosive offense from Wiggins, set about rebuilding. They certainly would have liked to have kept the lead in the 30s and been able to rest their stars for longer, but Atlanta never posed a real threat and never cut the deficit into single digits. With Wiggins making buckets and Green locking down on defense, the Warriors built a huge lead again and cruised to a 120-97 victory.

It was a night defined by efficiency and defense as the Warriors shot 47.0% from the field and held Atlanta’s potent offense under 100 points. Wiggins had one of his best performances of the season, finishing with a team-high 27 points on 12-for-17 shooting, with seven rebounds, four assists, two blocks and no turnovers. Curry, on the other hand, had five turnovers, but that’s excusable when you score 23 points on 7-for-10 shooting, including 4-for-6 from deep (plus 5-for-5 on free throws), and adding four rebounds, eight assists, two steals and a block.

Jackson-Davis finished with a double-double with 14 points and 11 rebounds, but the star was undoubtedly green. After taking responsibility for Monday’s loss, Green was on triple-double watch in this game with nine points, seven rebounds, nine assists, one steal and two blocks. His defense was a big part of why he finished a game-high +29. Even though Green finished a point short of scoring, the Dubs still had six players in double figures, with Hield chipping in with 11 and Waters and Jonathan Kuminga getting 10 apiece.

The Warriors improved to 11-3 with the win, including 5-1 at home, and took sole possession of first place in the Western Conference. They get one day to travel, then take on the New Orleans Pelicans on Friday at 4:30 PM PT in an NBA Cup game.