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ORACLE Arena, Oakland, California

Atlanta makes the always tough West Coast road trip trying to fight off three consecutive losses to the Bulls, Celtics, and Suns. The Hawks are currently sitting in 8th place in the East with a 3 game lead over Detroit for the final playoff berth. Atlanta is desperately trying to move up into 6th in the East so they could avoid Indiana or Miami in round 1 of the playoffs but this West Coast swing will test their mettle. Atlanta only has 9 road wins on the season and has dropped 9 of their last 10 straight up.

Golden State is one of the most exciting teams in the league but they're still stuck towards the bottom of the Western Conference in 6th place. The playoffs are anything but a sure thing for the Warriors as there are 4 teams fighting for 3 spots with only 2 games separating them.

These two teams met up for an entertaining, high-scoring game on January 3rd with the Warriors able to hold on to a 101-100 victory in Atlanta. The win was especially impressive considering Golden State was coming off a back to back in Miami where they outfought the Heat 123-114. Atlanta on the other side was well rested with that January 3rd game being their first of 2014.

If Atlanta wants to earn a must needed road win they must stop the trio of Klay Thompson, Steph Curry, and David Lee, who notched up 21,22, and 23 points respectively in their first meeting. The first battle was actually a pretty even matchup with the shooting percentages, total rebounds, and turnovers being almost even. Atlanta brought a well balanced attack with 6 players scoring in double figures. Interestingly enough the 101-100 January 3rd matchup still didn't account for enough points to hit the over 209. Atlanta backers who took the Hawks as 3 point home underdogs were able to cash out though.

It's a tale of two travelers as Atlanta looks to fight off fatigue in the middle of their 6-game road trip while Golden State finally returns home after 6 games away from the Oracle Arena.

Read more articles by Alan Matthews