Jan 12, 2026
3 min read
While the Warriors have been on the rise over the past few weeks, they run into the Atlanta Hawks a team that isn't Golden State.
SAN FRANCISCO — The Warriors walked into Chase Center on Sunday hoping to extend their extended season and face kryptonite.
They ran into Atlanta, a roster built on exposing and exploiting its worst weaknesses, and the 124-111 loss served as a stark reminder of the Warriors' mistakes and renewed frustration in the front office.
The staff is very damaged.Although the Warriors have played well recently, rediscovering their offense and winning eight of their previous 11 games, their margin for error remains below that of the dollar store model.
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Warriors are short;the claws are long.Warriors are light in terms of elite sports;The Hawks could field a very good 400 meter relay team.The Hawks showed active, disruptive defenders and had enough shooters to take advantage of the damage they did against Golden State.
"A lot of long, lean dudes playing, especially with their guards," De'Antonius Melton said.
"We are hard to find the painting tonight," According to Stephen Curry."The ball around, and they can put up five body in the bodymets on the body. The act of the good sheds are not yet answered.
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After thoroughly dismantling the Warriors in the first half and taking a 59-53 lead, Atlanta came out and robbed them of their composure in the third quarter, causing them to falter and fall back into their old bad habits.
Turnovers.Specifically, outright gifts.Golden State scored five in a crucial third quarter to give the Hawks 13 points.Injury at final buzzer: 16 turnovers, 28 Atlanta points.
On the other hand, the Warriors committed nine turnovers and scored 11 points.
"They just played a good game," coach Steve Kerr said of the Hawks."We couldn't turn them over. They played lights out, had 32 assists, seven turnovers. I didn't think we played well. I didn't think we played well. Obviously, 10-for-42 (from the floor), we had to shoot better.
The result was another night where Curry scored a lot — 31 points on 11-of-21 shooting, 3-of-11 from deep — and it wasn't enough.Jimmy Butler III scored 30 points on 10-of-19 shooting, including 2-of-6 from beyond the arc.It doesn't matter.
Not when the rest of the team scored just 50 points, shot 42% from the field, including 20% from deep, while committing 11 of 16 turnovers.
The Warriors led by 10 in the first half, trailing by 25 in the second half.They were outscored 20-7 in the last 6:07 of the third quarter.
Golden State's offense looked hesitant while trying to penetrate a defense featuring 6-foot-9-inch Jalen Johnson, 6-foot-9-inch Onyeka Okongwu and 6-foot-11-9-inch Mouhammed Gueye up front, along with 6-foot-9-inch Dyson Daniels and 6-foot-9-inch Nickeil Alexander-Walker.
"Usually, there's going to be one or two guys that you can use to create an advantage," Curry said."That's not to say they're just going to play that defense and let you get to the paint. But you can create a lead and then make them react, make the ball move side to side. We've done it well for the little shots off the play. You've got to be able to relax and attack if you have any angles just to go downhill."
Kerr's comments about the Hawks two hours before the announcement proved prophetic.
"We know how good they are defensively, with length everywhere," Kerr said."It's really about us keeping it simple, making the right decisions and controlling the game, they need to score goals in midfield."
The target was not met.This wouldn't be the last time Golden State's current roster needed upgrades to compete at the highest level in the Western Conference.
The Jonathan Kuminga market, which was cool, opens on Thursday.The NBA trade deadline is February 5th in 25 days.
To bounce back from a decisive loss and continue their recent resurgence on Tuesday, the Warriors will have to play nearly perfect basketball – and hope that's enough.
They won't be flawless if they can somehow, in the next 25 days, bring in some talented players with what it takes to take on the kryptonite.
