Kent Bazemore Succeeding with Hawks

The showdown between the Golden State Warriors and Atlanta Hawks on Friday night brought more media coverage than last year’s postseason in Atlanta.

Justifiably so, considering the Hawks last season were an inevitable early postseason knock-out, but this year they are a stellar 42-9, enough for the best winning percentage in the league.

And, nowadays, when the Warriors come to town, it’s always a hot, hot match-up. It was the best in the West against the best in the East, though unfortunately the Warriors were unable to pull off what would have been an emphatic statement to the entirety of the league.

The Hawks protected their own soil and won a high-scoring game 124-116. Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson combined for a whopping 55 points, but the bench play was not as productive as usual and the rest of the starting five combined for merely 29 points.

Paul Millsap lead the way for Atlanta scoring 21 points on solely 10 shots. Atlanta received a significant amount of help from their core players, and their bench out-playing the Warriors’ reserves was a mammoth reason to why they came out victorious.

Kent Bazemore, someone I’m sure Warriors fans are very familiar with, was terrific in 26 minutes, making his mark on the defensive end but also posting 11 points on 4-of-6 shooting.

Bazemore was a “bench-warmer” when he was on Golden State’s roster, averaging 4.4 minutes his rookie season, then 6.1 the following season, until he was traded away to the Lakers mid-season of last year and commenced to play 28 minutes a night.

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Now, Bazemore is on the best team in the league and averaging about 14 minutes a night. He contributes heavily as one of the key bench players for the Hawks, and he certainly hurt the Warriors on Friday night.

Bazemore’s time in Los Angeles, where he received a chunk of minutes due to the lack of talent on their roster, was important in his development as a player, particularly offensively. Even though he isn’t asked to score much in Atlanta, he has improved tremendously as a shooter and as a ball-handler.

I wouldn’t go as far as to say the Warriors miss Bazemore, or even that they could use a Bazemore — I don’t think the Warriors are concerned, really. With no disrespect to Bazemore and his spectacular development, it’s merely that the Warriors have plenty of depth, and Bazemore would continue to have trouble getting on the floor if he was still on the roster.

But, on Friday, Bazemore played a key role in a pivotal game against his former team.

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