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The Golden State Warriors lost to the Atlanta Hawks by a final score of 110-121 on Friday night. A big night from Klay Thompson that saw him go for 37 points on 9-of-16 shooting from three wasn’t enough as the Warriors’ defense struggled all night to stop the Hawks from scoring. Here’s some of the takeaways from the Warriors postgame pressers:
Steve Kerr Discusses the Game
Kerr made a big change going into this game by starting Jonathan Kuminga in place of Kevon Looney. Kerr said with Stephen Curry out, he wanted to experiment with a different starting lineup that offers more spacing on offense. He explained that because of this, the defense struggled as evidenced by Trae Young’s 33 points and 15 assists. Young tore up the Dubs’ pick-and-roll defense, whether it was through his scoring ability or his gifted passing sense to find the open man after the Warriors were late to make their rotations. In the final quarter, when the team was starting to mount a comeback, Kerr decided to ride with the group that got him there because of their ability to get stops on the defensive side.
Here’s what Kerr had to say:
Steve Kerr says he has to explore different lineup combinations to find ones that work, but also needs to settle on them before the playoffs — a challenging task. Here are his comments on why he replaced Looney in the starting lineup with Kuminga tonight: pic.twitter.com/wjQQN69F3z
— Kendra Andrews (@kendra__andrews) March 26, 2022
Steve Kerr thought the second quarter was the worst part of the game.
— Mark Haynes (@markhaynesnba) March 26, 2022
“We had a nine-point lead with about two minutes left, and if I'm not mistaken, I think they scored the final 11 points and change the entire feel of the game.”
Steve Kerr explained his rotation in the fourth quarter pic.twitter.com/FhqmB0Ee4K
— 95.7 The Game (@957thegame) March 26, 2022
Klay played a season-high 40 minutes tonight.
— Warriors on NBCS (@NBCSWarriors) March 26, 2022
Kerr: "I may have a text on my phone [from Rick Celebrini]" pic.twitter.com/YO5wIuVRNy
Warriors Players Discuss the Game
Golden State’s offense was powered by Klay Thompson and Jordan Poole as both started the first half on fire with 22 points each. Thompson went on to lead the Dubs in scoring with 37 points in 40 minutes of play. Poole’s scoring cooled off in the second half as he finished the game with 24 points, but he was in full control of the offense as his 10 assists were good enough to give him his first career double-double. Other than Gary Payton’s 14 points, no other Warrior scored in the double digits.
Here’s what the Warriors’ players had to say:
Here's why Klay knew he was going to have a big night in Atlanta pic.twitter.com/cYQtY3XnRI
— Warriors on NBCS (@NBCSWarriors) March 26, 2022
Klay on playing 40 minutes: "That is a huge milestone for myself and something I will build on" pic.twitter.com/1gxarSMiZj
— Warriors on NBCS (@NBCSWarriors) March 26, 2022
Klay on Looney: "He's one of the best in the biz. I look forward to him getting rewarded for it this summer in free agency" pic.twitter.com/I7U1i361cC
— Warriors on NBCS (@NBCSWarriors) March 26, 2022
"He's just a cerebral player"
— Warriors on NBCS (@NBCSWarriors) March 26, 2022
Klay says JP has All-Star potential ⭐ pic.twitter.com/RJv4mrpvSe
"Klay had an amazing game. We were able to get him going." - Jordan Poole pic.twitter.com/HBPSMAbbed
— 95.7 The Game (@957thegame) March 26, 2022
Quote of the Night
Enjoy this quote from Gary Payton II:
"JP had 10 assists? Turn up! Career high! Turn up!" pic.twitter.com/NlpNZDvTub
— Warriors on NBCS (@NBCSWarriors) March 26, 2022
Recap
This loss brings Golden State to 48-26 on the season which is good enough for the 3rd seed out West. They trail the Memphis Grizzlies by 3 games for the 2-seed, while leading the 4th place Utah Jazz by 3 games. Up next, the Warriors finish off this 5-game road trip with a back-to-back starting with a Sunday matchup against the Washington Wizards.
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