NBA highlights on Feb. 3: It's time for Steve Kerr to make up his mind

The Atlanta Hawks beat the Golden State Warriors 141-134 in overtime (OT) at State Farm Arena in Atlanta, Georgia, on Saturday, extending their winning streak to four games.

Trae Young maintained his recent superb offensive form, shooting 12-for-21 from the field and 7-for-11 behind the arc to drop 35 points and six assists for the Hawks in the game. He wasn't fighting alone as five of his teammates reached double-digit points. Jalen Johnson, Clint Capela and Onyeka Okongwu all had double-doubles in points and rebounds. Johnson was only two assists from getting a triple-double.

More importantly, the Hawks made good use of the Warriors' interior vacuum to grab as many as 16 offensive rebounds, 15 of which came from Johnson, Capela and Okongwu. Though the two teams matched each other in second-chance points at 18, the Hawks scored 16 more points (72-56) in the paint.

One of the reasons that the Hawks could act so willfully in the Warriors' paint was that the latter didn't have any full-size big man during most of the time on Saturday night. Dario Saric didn't travel to Atlanta because of undisclosed illness; Trayce Jackson-Davis (TJD) played less than nine minutes in the game; even 2.06-meter-tall Kevon Looney was given than no more than 15 minutes on the court.

As a result, 1,98-meter-tall, 33-year-old Draymond Green always had to face two big men of the opponents by himself. They are all bigger, younger and much more athletic than him. Green is still a good defender, but he couldn't do everything by himself.

Despite all of the disadvantages above, the Warriors still had the chance to win Saturday's game, in which Stephen Curry knocked down 10 triples to score season-high 60 points. Though he missed the game-winning floater at the end of the fourth quarter, Curry continued to provide the team's best firepower in the OT, getting eight of their 11 points by himself.

The underperformances of Curry's teammates cost the Warriors the game and the worst-performing one was Klay Thompson. He missed 15 of his 19 field goal (FG) attempts, including 13 out of 15 outside the 3-point line. Furthermore, nearly all of the Hawks, big or small, treated him as a defensive dead weight and he failed to prove them wrong.

The Warriors found a workable winning formula in their previous two straight wins, which was to finish the game with the lineup of Curry, Brandin Podziemski, Andrew Wiggins, Jonathan Kuminga and Green. Wiggins sprained his left foot in the third quarter and didn't play in the rest of the game; Kuminga was fouled out in the fourth quarter. As a result, Thompson was added to the team's clutch time lineup, but it turned out to be a bad decision.

Even without Wiggins and Kuminga, coach Steve Kerr still had Moses Moody and TJD who play better defense and make more reasonable offensive calls than Thompson. Nonetheless, Kerr used neither. He has been criticized for taking too much care of the veterans' feelings at the cost of the team. From time to time, he put Thompson on the bench, but never removed him from the starting squad. In today's form and attitude, Thompson is no longer able to handle the important role of playing over 30 minutes in one game.

The Warriors are currently in the 12th place in the Western Conference with a 21-25 record. Kerr has to make the hard but right choices now if his team still wants to reach the play-in tournament zone in the 36 games to come.

Other games on Saturday (away teams come first):

Los Angeles Lakers 113-105 New York Knicks

The Lakers ended the Knicks' nine-game winning streak at Madison Square Garden in New York City on Saturday. They rallied a 33-19 run in the fourth quarter and limited the opponents to shooting 7-for-22 in FGs. LeBron James scored 24 points, five rebounds and five assists for the purple and gold. Austin Reaves and Taurean Prince both drained three triples. Anthony Davis had a double-double of 12 points and 18 rebounds in addition to four blocks.

Jalen Brunson got 36 points and 10 assists for the Knicks, both court highs. Donte DiVincenzo had 22 points and made six shots outside the 3-point line, but he did it out of 16 attempts.

Milwaukee Bucks 129-117 Dallas Mavericks

The Mavericks had a perfect start in Saturday's game as they led by as many as 25 points (45-20) in the second quarter at American Airlines Center in Dallas, Texas. However, as the Bucks found the right way to crack the opponents' defense open, which was to charge the hoop over and over with the size, power and athletic advantages of Giannis Antetokounmpo and Bobby Portis, they wiped the Mavericks' lead bit by bit until coming back in the final period.

Antetokounmpo shot 20-for-28 from the field to drop 48 points, 10 assists and five steals for the Bucks. He alone contributed 32 of the team's 64 points in the paint. Luka Doncic was one rebound shy of a triple-double that included 40 points and 11 assists for the Mavericks, but he also committed nine turnovers.

Brooklyn Nets 136-121 Philadelphia 76ers

Sacramento Kings 123-115 Chicago Bulls

Cleveland Cavaliers 117-101 San Antonio Spurs