2015 NBA scores: Warriors blitz Hawks in potential Finals preview

The Warriors ran the Hawks out of Oracle Arena to run their home winning streak to 10 games.

Mar 19, 2015, 1:00 PM UTC

Bob Stanton-USA TODAY Sports

The king of the Eastern Conference visited the king of the Western Conference on Wednesday night, and while both Klay Thompson and Kyle Korver sat out because of injuries, there were still plenty of fireworks at Oracle Arena. Most of them were courtesy of the home team, and when it was all said and done, the Warriors avenged their loss from earlier in the season with a 114-95 beatdown of the Hawks. Golden State has won 10 consecutive home games and has the best record in the league at 54-13.

The Warriors used a big third-quarter run to turn a close game into a bloodbath. Golden State is the best third-quarter team in the NBA this season by far, and the Warriors ran off a 14-3 run at the tail end of this third quarter to give them a 19-point lead heading into the final frame.

The fourth quarter was merely a formality, as the Warriors went full video game mode at the start of the quarter to erase any thought of a comeback. Andre Iguodala had a highlight reel dunk during this stretch, and was huge the entire game with Thompson on the shelf. The veteran swingman had 21 points on 9-of-12 shooting, and those 21 points were a season high.

Speaking of stepping up, Harrison Barnes had himself a game as well, scoring 25 points (also a season high) on 11-of-13 shooting. So if you're counting at home, that's 46 points on 20-of-25 shooting combined for Iguodala and Barnes. Safe to say that's going to get the job done on most nights.

I haven't even mentioned Draymond Green or Stephen Curry yet, and both guys had big impacts, even though Curry didn't shoot well. Green had 18 points, with most of those coming courtesy of five three-pointers. (Take that, Klay!) Curry only had 16 points, but he had 12 dimes and did this:

While the Warriors' offense was firing on all cylinders, the defense was just as good and helped key the third-quarter charge by forcing eight turnovers in the quarter. The Hawks shot just 35.6 percent from the field overall, and while uncharacteristically poor shooting nights from Al Horford (4-of-18) and Dennis Schroder (1-of-12) contributed to that, Golden State's stingy defense deserves plenty of credit as well.

Now, as bad as the Hawks looked, this ugly loss shouldn’t be used as a referendum on their title chances. Atlanta has plenty of wins over great teams this season, including the one over Golden State just over a month ago. Bad games can happen, especially at Oracle, and especially without such a key player like Korver. The Hawks truly are a different team with Korver and his “gravity” on the floor, so chalk this one up to just a bad game without a key player against an elite team in a tough environment.

3 other things we learned

The Way of Wade may will Heat to playoffs: Dwyane Wade was a train wreck during last year's NBA Finals, but the Heat star has looked far from washed up this season. Wade has missed some time with injuries, which is to be expected at this point, but he has been mostly great when he has played. That's especially the case of late, and we got yet another vintage "Flash" performance in a scintillating 108-104 victory over the Trail Blazers. Wade scored 15 of his 32 points in the fourth quarter, including the last eight Heat points to close out the game. (LeBron predicted Wade's game-winner, by the way.) He's averaging 30.2 points over the last five games, and Miami is now all alone as the No. 7 seed in the East.

Enes Kanter and Steven Adams doing best to make up for loss of Serge Ibaka: The Thunder defense simply won't be the same with Ibaka on the shelf for at least the next month because of knee surgery. Nobody else in the frontcourt can replicate what he brings in terms of rim protection, and that has been evident with him out. But Kanter and Adams can potentially fill the void on offense and on the glass, and the duo did just that in a key 122-118 victory over the streaking Celtics. Kanter continued his solid play on offense, putting up 22 points and 10 rebounds while shooting 10-of-13 from the field. Adams added 14 points and 13 rebounds, and the two big men combined for 13 offensive boards. Oh, and Russell Westbrook had 36 points, 10 assists and five rebounds. With the victory, the Thunder moved a half-game ahead of the Pelicans for the No. 8 seed in the West. Now the hope is Kanter's tweaked ankle is nothing serious, because the last thing Oklahoma City needs is another injury.

Rookie point guards show out in losses: While the Celtics lost to the Thunder, it was a banner night for Marcus Smart. The rookie put up a career-high 25 points while shooting 8-of-14 from the field and a scorching 7-of-12 from deep. He also grabbed nine rebounds, handed out five assists and was a team-high +10. His flurry at the end of the first half gave Boston a lead at the break, but Oklahoma City took over in the second half. Not too far away in Dallas, another rookie point guard had himself a night in a loss. Elfrid Payton notched his first career triple-double in a 107-102 loss to the Mavericks with 15 points, 12 assists and 10 rebounds. Payton had flirted with a triple-double several times before, and he finally got it this time. The rookie unfortunately missed a potential go-ahead jumper late in the game after a huge Magic comeback, but this game again showed off the potential in that backcourt with Payton and Victor Oladipo.