Atlanta Hawks: Warriors 85, Hawks 82

• If you didn’t just click on the headline with the score, would you be able to tell which game Larry Drew was talking about when he said this about his offense: “We settled, especially in the first half. I thought we shot way too many jumpers. We cant’ be seduced into taking jump shots. We fell prey. We’ve got to be smarter and understand the flow of the game. It’s one thing if you are making jump shots but, if you are not, then you can’t settle.”
• I’ve been covering this team for 2 1/2 seasons now and Drew (and Mike Woodson before him) could say the same thing about the vast majority of the games the Hawks play. The difference between winning and losing often is the difference between making or missing those jump shots–with the occasional twist, like tonight’s 16 of 26 shooting from the free-throw line.
• A night after the Warriors were blown out by Indiana, they beat the Hawks not with a high-possession, high-efficiency game–which would still be bad but at least somewhat expected–but with defense, rebounding and David Lee and Monta Ellis doing what they do down the stretch.
• The Hawks saw Dominic McGuire, replacing Stephen Curry in the backcourt, collect 15 rebounds while successfully harassing Joe Johnson (who was sore-kneed, but still). The Hawks couldn’t score or rebound against a bad defensive and rebounding team.
• “I’m not surprised,” Drew said. “They are pretty relentless on the glass. You have to get bodies on guys. Lee is a good rebounder. [Ekpe] Udoh is a good rebounder. McGuire, that’s what he does.”
• It’s true that Lee and McGuire are good on the glass. But Udoh is not a good rebounder and collected 8 in 31 minutes against the Hawks. Brandon Rush had eight in 29 minutes, Klay Thompson had six in 29 as Golden State got 18 rebounds in 91 minutes from its bench vs. three in 49 minutes for the Hawks.
• Speaking of the reserves . . . Thompson worked over Willie Green, who still played 21 minutes in small lineups even though he wasn’t scoring. Tracy McGrady, who can rebound and create shots for others (even if he’s still struggling to finish or get calls), didn’t play after a six-minute stint in the first quarter.
• Remember when the Hawks blew all those layups against the Lakers? The Warriors are not the Lakers but they recorded nine blocked shots and the Hawks couldn’t finish against them, either. “I thought we just missed a lot of point blank shots with nobody us,” Johnson said. “It happens. It’s tough but I’m sure we will bounce back and get the next one. This is definitely a tough loss for us because we definitely felt like we should have got the win.”
• Monta Ellis sure likes to shoot a lot of Js. But he supplemented that with lots of post-ups against Jeff Teague, who struggled to hold his ground and challenge once Ellis fired away. Teague had a solid offensive game that could have been better if his teammates made more of the good looks he created.
• McGuire is the latest rangy wing to make it tough on Joe to score. After a 1 for 8 start, Joe made 5 of his next 9 shots. He looked stiff-legged at times. “It got a little stiff, especially in the fourth quarter,” he said. “Other than that, I was pretty good. I wouldn’t say I’m 100 percent but I was decent.”
• “A few times he looked like he was dragging it a little bit,” Drew said. I know the Hawks need to keep winning games but if eight days off doesn’t get Joe to 100 percent then perhaps they should think about sitting him, especially considering his history of poorly managing his injuries. You can’t question Joe’s toughness so he doesn’t need to prove it at the expense of never getting the knee right.
• Drew said Green sprained his back when Lee crashed into him. He didn’t have any details on his status.
• Josh Smith missed 15 of 20 shots while taking too many Js, was sluggish on defense, and could have had more than eight defensive rebounds with better focus. The Warriors encouraged him to face up when he looked like he wanted to post up.
• Marvin Williams missed some open looks. He usually attacks the basket when that happens but tonight he stopped doing that after he struggled to finish when he got there. At least he had five defensive rebounds.
• Zaza Pachulia struggled to finish, too, which is his weakness. But he played to his strengths, too, doing good work on the boards and offering some resistance when the Warriors ventured inside.
• Kirk Hinrich has been iso-happy lately.
• Drew and Johnson each were offered the rust excuse.
• Drew: “It could have been [rust]. One thing is with a few days off, you don’t want guys laying around the whole break. But I’m not blaming it on that. We didn’t play the way we were capable of playing and we didn’t play with energy.”
• Johnson: “Granted, the layoff, but, no excuse, man. They beat us to a lot of hustle plays. They got a lot of easy baskets. We shot a lot of jump shots and we weren’t making them, so it was tough.”

Michael Cunningham, Hawks beat