The Warriors’ search for a cure for their road ills ended Monday night in Atlanta.
Their road losing streak, which had reached six games, was vanquished with a 128-111 rout of the woeful Hawks at State Farm Arena.
Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant and Klay Thompson combined for 85 points as the Warriors pushed their overall record to 16-9 while dropping the Hawks to 5-19.
Here are three quick takeaways from the victory:
Curry is back to being Curry: Curry’s solid offensive work in the second half Saturday at Detroit carried over into the entire game against the Hawks, as he poured in 18 points in the first quarter.
It’s fair to say his accuracy was up, his turnovers down and his rhythm more customary. Most important, of course, his 3-ball was splashing.
Curry finished with 30 points on 10-of-17 shooting from the field, including 6-of-10 from deep, along with two assists. On the other end, he added a block and a steal. He was plus-22 over 29 minutes.
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When Curry’s shots are falling, the Warriors' seem to follow.
Or, as coach Steve Kerr is fond of saying, the food taste better.
The tag-teaming big men did OK: With Damian Jones out of action for the foreseeable future, the Warriors for the first time this season have transitioned from a rotation of three young centers to a tag team of two: Kevon Looney and Jordan Bell.
In the first game under this arrangement, Looney played appreciably better than Bell -- which is not surprising, as Looney has been the most consistently reliable big man on the roster, the best rebounder and by far the best defender.
Making his third start of the season, he responded with a career-high 14 points (7-of-9 shooting from the field), with a career-high-tying five assists. He also had three rebounds, two steals and a block. He was plus-21 in 29 minutes.
Bell’s game was one of ups and downs in near equal proportion. He had a nice block and a couple slick passes, while also committing a couple ghastly turnovers. He totaled six points on 3-of-7 shooting, adding six rebounds, three assists, one block and one steal. He played 19 minutes and finished minus-4.
The ball movement exemplary: The Warriors set a goal of 30 assists per game, a number they haven’t reached since Nov. 11. In the 12 games since, they averaged 23.9 per game.
They got back to 30 on Monday and then went beyond it, recording 33 assists -- their highest total since posting a season-high 39 in a win over New Orleans on Oct. 31.
And this wasn’t a case of one or two players setting up teammates. Andre Iguodala’s early-game ball movement set a tone that became contagious, resulting in eight players with at least two assists, with four players recording at least five.
Durant led the pass parade with eight assists, while Shaun Livingston, Iguodala and Looney each had five.
