Curry and Warriors Too Much For the Knicks
Before the New York Knicks hosted the Golden State Warriors Thursday night at Madison Square Garden, head coach Tom Thibodeau was asked who would be assigned to guard Warriors explosive guard Stephen Curry. Tibbs quipped, “our team.” He went on to say it would take a team effort citing Curry’s ability make plays anywhere on the court not only hitting 3-pointers but getting his teammates involved. “Curry “puts enormous pressure on you,” he concluded. Obviously, the Knicks players didn’t get that memo.
Curry didn’t waste no time as he hit his first 3-pointers as Golden State quickly jumped out to a 9-0 lead causing Thibodeau to call a time out. Meanwhile, the Knicks offense was non-existent as they couldn’t find the basket. In fact, after the Warrior increased their lead to 14-0, New York finally got on the board (14-2) after a Donte DiVincenzo layup. Golden State ended the quarter up 31-19 with Curry scoring 11 points.
It was an uphill battle for the Knicks the rest of the game as at times they would make a run closing the gap to 6-points (50-44) in the second quarter. The Warriors closed out the quarter 5-2 extending their lead to 55-46 at halftime. The third quarter was much of the same. This time, New York would only get within 8 points as Golden State started the final quarter with a 80-70 lead.
Give credit to the Knicks who were still without All-Star Julius Randle and defensive stud OG Anunoby as they easily could have given up. They got the closest of the night after 2 Jericho Sims free throws cut the lead to 4 at 89-85. The Warriors closed out the last 6:35 on a 21-14 run in the 110-99 victory. The loss dropped the Knicks record to 35-25 while Golden State improved to 31-27. Curry finished his night leading all scorers with 31 points and connected on 8 3-pointers. New York was led by Jalen Brunson (who missed the previous game against New Orleans) with 27.
Said Thibodeau of the slow start, “I thought we started slow,” he began. “I thought we missed some good looks. We have to make shots. Right now, we have to make high volume threes and we didn’t do that. We didn’t make shots the way we would’ve liked.”
Stephen Curry and the Golden State Warriors did.
