Atlanta hands Warriors a rare home defeat

OAKLAND -- Brandan Wright visited his orthodontist over the All-Star break, but did not get his braces removed -- something Warriors coach Don Nelson has often referred to as a joking prerequisite before giving his rookie forward more playing time.

"I got some work done," Wright said. "Working on perfection."

Friday night, perfection was nowhere to be found for the Warriors.

Despite one of Wright's best games of the season, shorthanded Golden State could not refrain from dropping a 117-110 decision at the hands of the Atlanta Hawks.

Big nights from Baron Davis (35 points, seven assists) and Monta Ellis (26 points, five assists) were not enough to mask the absence of swingman Stephen Jackson and, more importantly, center Andris Biedrins. Joe Johnson scored 27 points but was one of a host of Hawks who played above their norms to help snap the Warriors' four-game home winning streak.

Golden State (33-22) was too slow to respond to getting socked in the mouth by Atlanta (22-30), and after three consecutive comeback victories in Oracle Arena, the magic finally ran out. The Warriors never got closer than eight points in the final 10 minutes.

The outcome was all the more disappointing in light of the fact that Friday opened a critical stretch of six games for Golden State.

All but one opponent in that string is currently sitting below .500 -- Atlanta twice, Seattle, Philadelphia and Charlotte -- and with the first four of those contests at home, it would seem to be the perfect time for the Warriors to reel off a long winning streak and separate themselves from Houston and Denver, the other teams currently engaged in a pitched battle for the Western Conference's final two playoff spots.

"When you're at home against teams that are under .500, those are games that the championship-caliber teams don't lose," said Warriors forward/center Austin Croshere, who was one of the people being counted on by Nelson to fill in for Biedrins. "This is an opportunity for us to prove that we're in that upper level, by winning the games we're supposed to win."

That job was made significantly tougher, however, without Jackson, who missed his second consecutive game with a sprained left ankle, and Biedrins, who underwent an emergency appendectomy on Thursday night.

The Warriors prevailed over Boston on Wednesday without Jackson.

Raw numbers don't convey how wretched it was. The Hawks posted up with impunity against Biedrins' replacements, and guys like Zaza Pachulia actually looked good doing it. And Mike Bibby -- the former Sacramento star whose hard foul earlier this month as a member of the Kings originally caused Jackson's injury -- was allowed to float freely for 15 points.

Davis missed his first three free throws -- four, if you count the extra one he threw up at the rim when one clanger bounced off the back iron and right back to him. And pick-and-roll passes meant for Ellis were caroming off in unusual directions, diverted by flashing hands of Atlanta defenders or squibbed off his leg and into the backcourt for a turnover.

The continued lethargy forced Nelson to get creative in search of a spark. Croshere and Matt Barnes replaced Chris Webber and Mickael Pietrus in the opening lineup to start the second half, and the leash grew tight on everyone outside of Davis and Ellis; Croshere was yanked after 2:12 in favor of Wright, and 87 seconds after that, Al Harrington was pulled for Kelenna Azubuike, leaving Wright at center.

With the skinny 20-year-old anchoring a super-small lineup, the Warriors outscored the Hawks 35-19 to close out the quarter trailing only by five points, 94-89. Golden State hit 18 of 27 shots in the quarter -- Wright was 3-for-3 -- and forced eight Hawks turnovers, which in turn generated 12 points for the Warriors.

But the Hawks opened the fourth quarter on a 9-2 run to push their lead back into double digits, and the Warriors were never truly close after that.