By MATT BECKER, STATS Writer Mar 3, 4:41 pm EST The Golden State Warriors’ chances of returning to the playoffs in the highly competitive Western Conference may come down to how they handle a road-heavy stretch of schedule over the next month. After enjoying a favorable six-week span filled with home games, the Warriors begin a four-game, five-day trip Tuesday against the Atlanta Hawks. Golden State (36-22) has played 13 of its last 16 at home, including nine of its 10 February games. It lost two of the road games in that stretch, and now plays 13 of its next 19 away from Oracle Arena. The Warriors, who made the playoffs last season for the first time since 1993-94, are in eighth place in the West, 1 1/2 games ahead of ninth-place Denver. A slip up on the road could cost them a return trip to the postseason. “We’re starting to realize we’re playing for something,” guard Stephen Jackson said after Sunday’s 110-104 victory over Portland. “We want to get into these playoffs, and there’s no question we’re playing hard. We’re just trying to get into position.” Golden State, which wrapped up its five-game homestand with three straight victories, has not won four in a row since a season-high six-game winning streak from Nov. 23-Dec. 2. The Warriors are also looking to avenge the only loss of the recent homestand, 117-110 to the Hawks on Feb. 22. “We play one game at a time, but obviously every trip we go on we want to win all of them, we want to go 4-0 and we feel like we need to do that,” Golden State’s Al Harrington said. “That’s our focus but you have to play one game at a time, so we have to take care of Atlanta first. They came in here and beat us so we owe them a little payback.” The Warriors have lost four straight to the Hawks (24-33) and two in a row at Philips Arena. Atlanta, meanwhile, has won 13 of its last 19 home games. Baron Davis had 35 points and shot 14-of-27 in the Feb. 22 defeat to Atlanta, but has struggled with his shooting touch since. He’s averaging 14.0 points on 27.6 percent from the field in his last three games after averaging 27.0 points on 51.8 percent shooting in his previous four. Jackson had 29 points and went 6-of-11 from 3-point range Sunday. He’s averaging 22.3 points in his last three contests after missing two games - including the loss to the Hawks - with a fractured left big toe. Atlanta is ninth in the Eastern Conference, one game back of eighth-place New Jersey, and has been struggling. The Hawks lost 98-88 to Boston on Sunday and have dropped nine of 12. Mike Bibby, acquired Feb. 16, had 14 points and nine assists against the Celtics. Brought to Atlanta to bolster the playoff push, the point guard is averaging 13.5 points and 7.3 assists in eight games for the Hawks. “He’s definitely an added dimension for that team, a veteran who can give them a boost, especially in these last 20-25 games,” Boston’s Paul Pierce said of Bibby. Joe Johnson had 27 points and eight assists against the Warriors in February, but he scored just nine points on 4-of-16 shooting with three assists Sunday. http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/preview;_ylt=A...?gid=2008030401
The scoring is unbelievable. The defense on both sides is not as bad as we think, but everyone is just hitting their shots. 62-61 warriors with 2 and a half to go.
Sweet win. The Warriors' ability to win on the road is amazing and a sign of their toughness. Baron had an amazing shooting night, great to see; SJax was huge and Monta was simply the Monta we've come to expect, 20 on 50%+ shooting.
All 3 guards were playing great today. It's good to see Baron bounce back after a crappy homestand (he admits it was injuries bothering him), Ellis came out terrific despite the Hawks D throwing him off a bit, and Sjax... he's gotta be the favorite of every warriors fan right now. He plays well through injury, he makes no excuses, and he's clutch at the right times. Seeing Brandan Wright playing in the first half was especially exciting. If he's a future 20/10 player with the warriors someday, I'll be super excited! It was really painful at times to see Atlanta get putbacks and offensive rebounds against us, but guys like Pietrus, Buke, Al, and Barnes really hustled out there and contributed well in scoring and second chance points. Pietrus has been on a mini-tear lately since the trade deadline. Good. The warriors can definitely use that because he needs to do more good than bad out there. He did well this game in making some nice plays and hitting some nice shots and playing some great D against JJ. He made a few rookie mistakes, but we'll take the good with the bad as long as there's a lot more good. His game tonight reminded me of some of his good games during 2003 (Alley oop plays, 3 point shots, and some nice surprise passes) Well, it's good knowing that we're at least matching the rebounding total, hitting high % shots, and making those shots despite one third of all shots on goal being 3 point attempts. 80% from the foul line is excellent to see. The defense wasn't bad compared to games of the past. There was just lots of scoring going on. My only complaint was that the free throw calls were pretty biased against the Warriors. I really liked what Atlanta showed in the first half. Atlanta could have stayed in it if they didn't insist on running a slow tempo for offense. Josh Smith is amazing. How good would he be if he were a warrior? Nelson would love him at power forward.
