California Sports Journal

The Warrior's 101-96 victory over the lowly Atlanta Hawks Wednesday night gave them back-to-back wins for the first time since December.
Troy Murphy, who returned to the lineup after a 10-game absence with a fractured left thumb, helped power the Warriors with a season-high 20 rebounds in 27 minutes. Jason Richardson led all scorers with 31 points.
“Going into the game, I was charged up,” Murphy said, his left hand wrapped in ice and his feet submerged in a bucket of ice water. “Playing for the first time in a while, I was charged up. I figured I was either going to get into a fight or get a lot of rebounds tonight.”
The Warriors' victory was spurred by a 17-2 run in the second quarter that turned a 31-28 Hawks lead into a 45-33 Golden State advantage. Richardson scored five points during the run, including a nice fade away three.
Coach Mike Montgomery said the second quarter run gave the team a “nice cushion” that helped the rest of the way.
“I was very pleased to be able to push the lead out there at halftime to 13 points,” Montgomery said. “We got a lot of confidence from that.”
Still, the Hawks clawed back in the second half, eventually cutting the Warriors' lead to three points with 32.9 seconds remaining. But Derek Fisher, who scored 20 points, hit a 17-foot fade-away jumper with 9.8 seconds left to seal the victory.
“I just wanted to make sure I caught the ball and make sure I took the time to make the shot,” Fisher said.
Montgomery was critical of the Warriors’ effort in the second half, noting the team's complacency during stretches.
“We started standing a little bit and at the same point that they got aggressive,” he said. “At some point, we have to get that killer instinct which allows us to get the lead and push it when we really have that chance.”
The Hawks were led by 27 points from Antoine Walker. Rookie Josh Childress, who played at Stanford for three years under Montgomery, scored 17 points and grabbed a season-high 15 rebounds.
“It wasn't as good as I would have liked, because we lost,” said Childress. “But that's how it goes.”
Montgomery said he was proud of the job his former player was doing in the NBA. “He's doing great,” he said. “He's a monster on the board. Atlanta's got to be really proud of him and rightly so.”
Richardson, whose dazzling 360 windmill dunk in the first quarter brought the crowd of 15,931 to its feet, said he was concerned the team would be a bit rusty after returning from the break.
“We really needed this win tonight,” Richardson said. The former NBA Slam Dunk Champion said he was impressed with the slam-dunk performance of the Hawks' Josh Smith, who won the contest in Denver on Saturday. Smith’s performance Wednesday night was less stunning; he scored five points.
The Warriors’ next test will be a Sunday home match-up against the defending NBA champion Detroit Pistons. The Warriors then head out on an eight-game road trip before returning home to play Houston on March 14.