The Golden State Warriors were extremely hobbled coming into the second night of a back-to-back against the Atlanta Hawks in State Farm Arena, but a glimmer of hope shone through when Hawks' star Jalen Johnson was ruled out just an hour before tipoff due to shoulder inflammation.

Now, things seemed doable for the Warriors in their first matchup against former teammates Jonathan Kuminga and Buddy Hield. At halftime, the hope remained the same, as the Warriors trailed by just 2 and had held a lead as large as 8 in the second quarter.

However, it all came crashing down coming out of the locker room. In the third quarter alone, the Hawks scored 39 points while the Warriors could only muster 20, and that was all she wrote. With the lead extended to as many as 28 in the fourth quarter, the Warriors ultimately lost, 126-110.

After the loss, Steve Kerr showed empathy towards his teams and explained the struggles they're all having to deal with right now in their worst stretch of the season.

"This is the hardest thing to go through. Losing, being decimated by injury, feeling like you're pushing, you're trying, you're playing hard, you're competing, but things aren't going your way. It's a tough time for everybody. It's human nature to get down, hang your head. I'm just trying to encourage the guys to keep competing, to try to bring the energy, stay positive. Because reinforcements will come, and to be ready for that. In the meantime, I'm proud of the way they're playing, they're playing hard, but they're in a tough spot. We're all in a tough spot right now."

It's the Warriors' third loss in a row and their 8th loss in the last 9 games. They haven't won consecutive games since January 19th — the fateful day that Jimmy Butler went down with a torn ACL. 

While this game was important for the Warriors' standings, especially with Johnson's absence making it a realistic game for them to take, a lot of the attention was on the first matchup between Kuminga and his former Warriors squad.

Kuminga was a story of much of the first half of the season, whether it was about his contract, his minutes, or, come January and February, his trade demand and status. When the Warriors finally sent him away to the Hawks for Kristaps Porzingis at the trade deadline, a lot of things were said about the relationship between Kuminga and the Warriors.

However, it seems that it can all be done away with, as Kuminga was given tons of love from all of the Warriors players and staff after this game.

In particular, Kuminga had an extended conversation with Steph Curry after the game, more evidence of Curry's veteran leadership.

Kuminga didn't have a good game by any standards — he had just 2 points on 1-9 shooting from the field in 22 minutes — but getting out of there with the win is more than the Warriors could say.

Buddy Hield was also in the midst of the group, greeting his old Warrior friends and showing love. Hield only played 4 minutes at the end of the game, and it was just the third game he's played in a Hawks uniform since the trade.