5 Predictions for the Golden State Warriors at Atlanta Hawks

By Bryce Olin | Feb 5, 2015

Mar 7, 2014; Oakland, CA, USA; Golden State Warriors point guard Stephen Curry (30) controls the ball against Atlanta Hawks shooting guard Kyle Korver (26) during the third quarter at Oracle Arena. The Golden State Warriors defeated the Atlanta Hawks 111-97. Mandatory Credit: Kelley L Cox-USA TODAY Sports /

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Feb 4, 2015; Atlanta, GA, USA; Atlanta Hawks forward Mike Scott (32) celebrates a dunk as Washington Wizards forward Kris Humphries (43) is shown after the play in the fourth quarter of their game at Philips Arena. Hawks won 105-96. Mandatory Credit: Jason Getz-USA TODAY Sports /

2. Mike Scott will be the difference-maker

Both, Golden State and Atlanta are two of the deepest teams in the league, and they depend on their bench for support on a nightly basis.

If you’re looking for a wildcard to step up in a huge game and take over, Hawks forward Mike Scott is going to be your top choice.

Season	G	MP	FG	FGA	FG%	3P%	TRB	AST	PTS
2014-15	48	14.9	2.7	6.1	.441	.364	2.5	0.9	7.3
Career	168	15.3	3.0	6.4	.468	.329	3.1	0.8	7.7

Provided by Basketball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 2/5/2015.

While he’s not Jamal Crawford, Scott has an instant-offense style to his game, and he brings creativity and spacing to the court for the Hawks. Scott only plays about 15 minutes per game, but if Scott’s feeling it, Hawks Coach Mike Budenholzer usually gets Scott an extra five or six minutes to get a couple more buckets.

As I mentioned, Golden State’s forwards and post defenders have been slacking a little bit over the last few weeks. In their losses against Utah and Chicago in the last two weeks, the Warriors gave up a combined 30 points to Tony Snell, Nikola Mirotic, and Taj Gibson of the Bulls and a combined 27 points to Joe Ingles and Trevor Booker of the Jazz.

Mike Scott’s game is a little bit of all of those five players rolled into one, so I think there’s a good chance he’s going to have a great game against the Warriors.

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