Warriors vs. Knicks: Score, Highlights, Reaction from 2017 Regular Season
Something is still amiss with the Golden State Warriors—just not enough to lose to the New York Knicks.
Stephen Curry scored 31 points and Klay Thompson added 29 as the Warriors overcame their shooting woes to earn a 112-105 win over the Knicks on Sunday.
Madison Square Garden went without music or in-game entertainment during the first half for an old-school feel, which seemingly threw off both teams' rhythm. The Warriors shot 36.2 percent during the first half compared to 56.1 percent in the second.
Curry, who shot 11-of-24 on the day, was just 4-of-13 at the halftime break and missed six of his eight three-point attempts. His ongoing shooting struggles led to no shortage of snark on Twitter:
"I’m so old I remember when Steph Curry made 3-pointers.
— Hardwood Paroxysm (@HPbasketball) March 5, 2017"
Over his last four games, Curry is shooting 20.5 percent from three-point range. It's the most pronounced slump of his prime and is coming at an inopportune time for Golden State. This was the Warriors' second full game without Kevin Durant, who is expected to miss at least four weeks after suffering a Grade 2 MCL sprain and a tibial bone bruise against the Washington Wizards on Tuesday.
Much like they did during Thursday's loss to the Chicago Bulls, the Warriors spent most of the game trying to settle their offense into the new normal. Thompson found his way to the free-throw line nine times but shot 8-of-21 overall and has been roughly as cold as Curry over the last three games.
Fourteen of Thompson's 29 points came in the first quarter. Twelve came in the fourth quarter. With Curry filling it up to the tune of 15 points in the third quarter and Thompson getting things going in the fourth, perhaps the Splash Brothers are steadying themselves a bit.
Draymond Green (13 points) and Zaza Pachulia (10 points) also finished in double figures. Pachulia and JaVale McGee had semi-consistent success near the basket, combining to shoot 7-of-9 from the center position. Pachulia has been in double figures in three of his last four games.
The Warriors big man didn't have a flawless day, however. Getting roasted by a teammate's mom after failing to grab a rebound is never a good look:
Derrick Rose led the Knicks with 28 points, frequently beating the Warriors off the dribble and creating contact. Rose was responsible for 10 of the Knicks' 20 made free throws.
Kristaps Porzingis added 24 points and 15 rebounds, while Carmelo Anthony (15 points) and Justin Holiday (10 points) were also in double figures. Porzingis had not had a double-double since Feb. 1's win over the Brooklyn Nets.
Kristian Winfield of SB Nation had some lofty praise:
The Knicks' recommitment to the triangle offense, at least for these 48 minutes, mostly went well. They shot 47 percent from the floor, including a 50 percent rate after the normal game pageantry resumed in the second half. Their 7-of-22 rate from beyond the arc remains a concern, but defensive breakdowns sowed the seed for their demise Sunday.
New York clawed its way back within one point with just under six minutes remaining, but it couldn't even keep this incarnation of the Warriors off the scoreboard. ESPN's Big Wos called out the Knicks for their poor switching on screens:
The Knicks have dropped two straight games and three of their last four. They'll hop on a plane and travel to Orlando for a game against the Magic on Monday.
The Warriors, having just vanquished their first regular-season losing streak in nearly two full calendar years, now head to Atlanta for a matchup with the Hawks on Monday night.
Postgame Reaction
Suffice it to say Green was not a fan of the first-half experience, telling reporters: "That was pathetic. It was ridiculous. It changed the flow of the game. It changed everything. You get so used to playing the game a certain way and to completely change that? To me, I thought it was completely disrespectful to Michael Levine and Rick Welts and all these guys who have done these things to change the game from an entertainment perspective and give the game a great vibe."
Green continued: "Complete disrespect. You advance things in the world to make it better. You don’t go back to what was bad. It’s like computers can do anything for us and then you go back to paper. Why would you do that? It was ridiculous…they need to trash that because that’s exactly what that was."
Coach Steve Kerr commented on how his team is handling Durant's absence: "We're surviving to this point. We obviously lost our first two games without him, so it's good to get a win without him tonight. This is how it's going to be for a while, so we have to get used to it."
Porzingis discussed the impact of a potential Knicks dynasty: "If we could be at their level one day in New York, I think it would be 10 times bigger than what they're doing, just because it's New York. The city is hungry for basketball, the city is hungry for success. So that's the goal for us, to get to that level one day and be a championship contender."
