In battle of top two teams in NBA, Hawks prevail

ATLANTA, Ga. - Golden State came to town with one of the best scoring duos in the NBA. But Atlanta showcased the depth of its entire team and came away with another impressive victory.

Jeff Teague scored 23 points and Paul Milsap added 21 to lead seven players in double figures as the Eastern Conference-leading Hawks outlasted the West’s best 124-116 at Philips Arena.

Klay Thompson (29 points) and Stephen Curry (26) handled the scoring load for the Warriors, but it wasn’t enough to cool off the scalding Hawks. Atlanta won its 12th consecutive home game, and was victorious for the 21st time in 22 games and improved to an NBA-best 42-9.

An early fourth quarter run had given the Hawks a 100-90 lead, but Golden State (39-9) scored nine of the next 11 points to get within 102-99 on a Draymond Green putback at the 5:50 mark. That’s as close as the visitors would get. Atlanta got four points from Teague and a 3-pointer each from Mike Scott and Kyle Korver (Teague assisted on both buckets), part of a 15-of-27 night from behind the arc for East’s top outfit, and it was 114-103 with just over three minutes to play.

“A game like tonight is where you learn more about yourself and you learn how good Golden State is and how hard they are to guard,” said Hawks coach Mike Budenholzer about the first of two regular season meetings between the teams. “It was a great atmosphere…we’ll learn from tonight and we’ll be better after tonight.”

Curry hit a pretty reverse lay-in and later assisted on Thompson’s lay-up to get the Warriors to within 120-114 with 35 seconds to play. Teague was a perfect 11-for-11 from the free-throw-line on the night, including six straight over the final 1:16 to help the hosts hang on.

The teams travel to the West Coast for the final regular season meeting on March 18, but they left Atlanta Friday looking like an NBA Finals match up in June is a strong possibility.

“It was a great game, guys making plays on both ends of the court,” said Budenholzer.

The teams were tied after one half, but Atlanta started strong in the third quarter. The Hawks’ lead in the period grew to as large as 64-55 on a three by Korver with a little over nine minutes left. Golden State pulled even on three occasions, the last of which at 83-83 on a 3-pointer by Leandro Barbosa with a minute to go.

Scott, who scored just two points in the opening half before pouring in 15 in the second half, drained consecutive threes in a 20-second span and Atlanta led 89-85 heading into the final period.

The Warriors held a 25-21 advantage after one, then Korver and Kent Bazemore each hit a pair of 3-pointers in the second (and three each in the opening half) to tie things up at the break.

Korver bounced back from a subpar game in a win over Washington on Wednesday (six points, 1-of-6 from three-point range) by scoring 17 points on 5-of-9 shooting from behind the arc. DeMarre Carroll and Horford added 12 each and Bazemore, 11 off the bench.

Curry dished out nine assists and Green pulled down 20 rebounds to go along with 12 points for the Warriors, who fell to 16-7 on the road.