Warriors hot offensive start slows in 121-110 loss to the Hawks

The Golden State Warriors road trip continued on Friday in a 121-110 loss to the Atlanta Hawks. After an impressive win over the Heat on Wednesday without Klay Thompson or Draymond Green, both players returned to the lineup for a fast-paced matchup against the Hawks.

Warriors head coach Steve Kerr made for a small headline before the game, preparing for Atlanta’s uptempo pace by starting rookie wing Jonathan Kuminga over plodding big man Kevon Looney. In the end, however, Kuminga ended up playing nine fewer minutes than Looney.

Both teams came out firing, making more than 60% of their shots from the field in the first quarter. Jordan Poole and Thompson were carrying the Warriors' offense with impressive shotmaking and helped them build a 42-36 lead at the end of the quarter. Trae Young and Danilo Gallinari, though, did their part to keep the Hawks within striking distance.

Poole and Thompson continued leading the way for Golden State, but the rest of the team was fairly inconsistent on the offensive attack. As the Warriors' offense slowed, the Hawks pulled ahead 69-67 just before halftime.

Both Poole and Thompson hit a brief cold spell in the third quarter, and Atlanta pulled ahead by double-digits. Every Hawks starter finished in double figures with Young, Gallinari, Kevin Huerter, and Clint Capela all scoring more than 19 points. The Warriors were unable to generate enough stops to keep pace.

Thompson got hot again in the fourth quarter and Golden State increased their defensive intensity in the fourth quarter to bring the Dubs within three points with more than four minutes left in regulation. However, with no other consistent offensive threat, they were unable to retake the lead.

Poole had another impressive performance but slowed mightily after scoring 20 points in the first half. He finished with 24 points and 10 assists on 8-for-22 shooting from the field. Thompson was incredible, though, scoring a game-high 37 points on 14-for-26 shooting from the field (9-for-16 from three).

The Warriors dropped to 1-2 on their road trip and have just one day off before they return to action on Sunday at 3:00 PM PST against the Washington Wizards. They now trail the Memphis Grizzlies by three games for the second seed in the Western Conference.

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