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Davis, Warriors rout Hawks

Mar 5, 2008 - 4:02 AM By Phil Foley PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

ATLANTA (Ticker) -- Baron Davis and a couple of former Atlanta Hawks helped the Golden State Warriors to another win.

Davis tallied 24 of his team-high 35 points in the first half and former Hawk Stephen Jackson connected for 13 of his 29 in a four plus-minute stretch in the third quarter to lead the Warriors to a 135-118 victory over the Hawks on Tuesday.

Monta Ellis added 20, Mickael Pietrus had 19 and former Hawk Al Harrington chipped in 13 for Golden State, which notched its fourth straight win.

"We certainly picked up our play in the second half," Warriors coach Don Nelson said. "We just kept the pedal to the metal and we were able to get the win."

Jackson and the Warriors quickly erased a two-point halftime deficit with a 20-4 run to open the third quarter.

The energetic Jackson, who played in Atlanta in the 2003-2004 season, was all over the court during the spurt, connecting on three 3-pointers and two shots from the field. His shot from the arc with 7:46 remaining gave the Warriors an 88-74 lead.

"Coach wanted me to shoot the ball," said Jackson, who missed the last contest between the two clubs due to a sprained left ankle. "(The shots) fell in the second quarter."

When it wasn't Jackson finding the net during the run, it was another former Hawk, Al Harrington, who helped put the dagger in his former club. The 28-year-old Harrington, who played two seasons in an Atlanta uniform, scored all five of his third-quarter points in the spurt.

"They all made shots and (Jackson) was the difference," Hawks coach Mike Woodson said. "We didn't see him at their place. I thought we did a fairly good job on him in the first half. In the second half, he got away. He was dominating mismatches."

Atlanta would get no closer than eight points thereafter.

"They came out with intensity in the second half," Atlanta guard Joe Johnson said. "They were the aggressors and hit us first. We never recovered from that."

While Jackson and Harrington came up big after the break, it was Golden State's point guard Davis who kept the Warriors in the game in the first half.

The 6-3 point guard scored 18 points and was a blistering 9-of-11 from the field in the first quarter before connecting on all four of his shots in the second quarter.

"I knew coming out there that I wanted to be aggressive," Davis said. "I wanted to set the tone and make sure we kept it close on the road."

Atlanta keyed in on Davis for much of the second half, which lead to open looks for Jackson.

"For Baron to get off to a big start, it helped us," Jackson said. "They really concentrated on him in the second half, and I got open shots."

Golden State was equally on fire in the first frame, shooting 63 percent (17-of-27) from the field. But the club trailed by five as Atlanta shot a blistering 67 percent (16-of-24) from the field as the Hawks posted a season-high 42 points in the first.

Neither team picked up the defense in the second quarter either, as Atlanta took a 70-68 lead into the break.

"We came out and thought that we were just going to come in here and outshoot this team up and down the floor," said Atlanta's defensive-minded coach Mike Woodson. "70-68 looks good on the scoreboard, but you are not going to beat teams like that.

"I like it if you can defend and rebound, and make shots yourself. But when you're giving up layups after layups, not taking the effort to get (back) and defend, you're not going to win games. You're not going to beat anybody in this league like that."

Despite allowing 70 points, the Warriors felt as though they had the Hawks exactly where they wanted them at the half.

"It's just our pace," Davis said. "We make teams play to our level. (Atlanta) is not a team that is used to scoring like that. We wanted to keep up the pace."

"They had a great first half," Jackson added. "We play this pace in our sleep. We just started playing better defense in the second half, and we were able to slow them down to gain control of the game."

Atlanta wasted a spectacular performance from their All-Star Johnson, who tallied 29 of his game-high 39 points, going 11-of-16 from the field - including 4-of-5 from the arc in the first half.

But the Warriors double-teamed Johnson in the second half, allowing the 26-year-old standout to connect on just 2-of-6 shots in the final 24 minutes.

"We threw a lot of bodies at Joe Johnson for different looks, which I think helped us in the second half," Ellis said. "We just wanted to confuse him a little bit and get back to rebounding and getting out on the break."

Josh Smith had 20 points and 11 rebounds and Marvin Williams also scored 20 for Atlanta (24-34), which remained one game behind the New Jersey Nets (26-34) for the eighth and final playoff spot in the anemic Eastern Conference.