San Francisco – After news broke that starter De’Anthony Melton would be out for the season with a torn ACL, the Warriors responded with a dominant performance, blowing out the Atlanta Hawks 120-97. Golden State led by 20 or more points for much of the game, with nine different players getting on the scoreboard.
The win extended the Warriors’ home winning streak to five games, improving their record to 5-1 at Chase Center this season. This marks their longest home streak since they won eight consecutive games from November 20, 2023, to December 23, 2023.
“I loved the first half,” said Warriors head coach Steve Kerr. “The first half was very aesthetically pleasing. We let our guard down a little bit, especially late third quarter. The game got away from us a little bit but the energy and the sharp play in the first half was really fun to watch. So we just got to keep building on that.”
Golden State’s 41 points in the first quarter marked their highest-scoring opening period of the season, surpassing the previous high of 38 set on November 2 at Houston. It also marked the sixth 40-point quarter for the Warriors this season. The team had six players score in double figures, the seventh time this season they’ve achieved that feat. Golden State is now 6-1 in games where at least six players reach double digits in scoring.
Andrew Wiggins posted his second consecutive 20-plus point game, finishing just two points shy of his season-high 29 (set on October 29 against the Clippers). This was his fourth 20-point performance of the season and his second time leading the Warriors in scoring this year (the first coming on October 27, when he scored 29 against the Clippers).
“I had a great summer of work,” Wiggins said. “I was able to get a lot of work in and a lot of time to myself. I’m motivated. I came in motivated this year, definitely going to stay like that.
Just trying to be the aggressor defensively and with Melt (De’Anthony Melton) down, he’s a hell of a defender. So the whole team has to step up and take charge, try to do what he was doing before he got hurt, pressure the ball, and make it hard on them. Value defense.”
Stephen Curry scored 20-plus points for the fourth time in the last five games and the seventh time overall this season. Trayce Jackson-Davis recorded his first double-double of the season and the seventh of his career, finishing with a season-high 11 rebounds (previous best: 9, three times) and scoring in double figures for the fifth time this year.
Lindy Waters III reached double figures for the second time this season while making his third consecutive start. He also connected on two or more three-pointers for the third straight game and the sixth time this season. Meanwhile, Draymond Green ended a career-long streak of five straight games with two or more made threes.
“Well we know how great of a defender Wiggs is it’s always good to know that you can go to that,” said Green. “But at the same time, he has to score more this year for us. So those times where you can get him off the ball handler and have somebody else guarding the ball handler that helps. Tonight 27 points, that’s no surprise, you’re not chasing around Trae Young. So not only defensively, he’s stepped his game up a lot this year and I wouldn’t necessarily say stepped his game up, he’s just playing more like the Andrew Wiggins that we know.”
Kevon Looney returned to the lineup after missing the previous game due to illness.
Golden State is now 9-0 when scoring 120 or more points and 7-1 when recording at least 30 assists. The Warriors’ 36 assists tonight marked their second-most this season (38 on 10/23 at Portland). Additionally, Golden State is now 7-0 when grabbing 50 or more rebounds.
The Warriors also improved to 4-0 this season when holding their opponent to under 40% shooting from the floor.
De’Anthony Melton Out For Season
Golden State Warriors guard De’Anthony Melton, who has missed the last two (2) games due to a sprained left ACL, underwent further testing to determine the extent of the injury. The tests indicated that it is in De’Anthony’s best interest to proceed with ACL surgery. He is scheduled for surgery in the near future and will miss the remainder of the 2024-25 season.
“It sucks. Like you said, lineups with him in it are good, really good,” said Draymond Green. “What he was bringing to this team was great. So we’ll miss that. But we’ll miss more is just his presence around, his attitude, his demeanor every single day, always smiling, never upset about anything. Just always bringing great vibes. He’ll sit at the table with Steph (Curry), myself, Kyle (Anderson), and Buddy (Hield), and we kind of have formed a good group at that table, the things that we talk about and share. You miss that more. Obviously, basketball is why we’re here, but when you start to forge relationships with guys off the court, that always takes precedence. We’ll miss that more.”
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