One night after a loss to the NBA standings leaders Atlanta Hawks, the Golden State Warriors paid a visit to the “World’s Most Famous Arena”, Madison Square Garden (MSG), where Stephen Curry is one of only a handful of players in history to record both 50 points and a triple-double, to face the New York Knicks. The Warriors were at full strength roster-wise, while the Knicks announced prior to the game that Carmelo Anthony would rest this game. They also announced that Amar’e Stoudamire would play.
1ST QUARTER: Draymond Sparks 18-2 Run
Andrew Bogut got off to his usual good start early, as Curry set him up with an entry pass and Bogut converted with a righty mini-hook. But Jason Smith hit two jumpers, Lance Thomas hit a left baseline jumper, and Lou Amundson got a jump hook to fall over Bogut, before Curry hit an early three from the deep left elbow, Draymond Green gave Harrison Barnes a nice lob after Jose Calderon airballed a trey, and Bogut put back a layup by Klay Thompson that trickled off the rim after Klay scissored with the right-hand dribble left-to-right through the Knicks’ defense.
The Warriors twice came close to a spark twice, but after Curry got an offensive rebound and retreated to the left corner, his three-pointer hit the side of the backboard and Green followed that up with his own missed three.
With 6:48 to play, Knicks head coach Derek Fisher called a timeout and it was 12-10, Golden State.
With 5:00 to play, David Lee checked in for Bogut to a nice applause from the MSG crowd. The Warriors continued their run as Green emphatically blocked a layup attempt by Langston Galloway, shouting, “Get that (expletive) out of here!” as the ball went flying into the baseline seats. On the ensuing inbound from the baseline, Green played great defense as the ball went far near the backcourt, deflecting the ball as the shotclock expired.
Golden State then utilized its familiar weave play up top and Thompson broke the trance the Warriors put on the Knicks with the play by jab-stepping and dribbling hard past the perimeter, then dishing a one-handed, left-handed pass back to a wide-open Green for the straight-away trey.
Thompson then got another straightaway trey as Green found him open behind a pick by Lee, and Green followed that up with another triple from the left elbow after Klay made a behind-the-back left-to-right dribble to get the defense off kilter, then passed to Lee back at the elbow, who found Draymond wide open.
That gave the Warriors an 18-2 run and a 23-12 lead with 3:28 to go in the first frame, before Stoudamire hit a jump-hook and-one on Lee. Knicks power forward Quincy Acy then drilled a jumper from near the top of the circle and Golden State head coach Steve Kerr called timeout with the Warriors up, 23-17, and 2:23 to go, bringing in Shaun Livingston for Curry and Andre Iguodala for Barnes.
Out of the timeout, Lee seemed to break through a slump experienced through the Hawks game by converting an and-one, played good defense on a fading Stoudamire at the other end, and Livingston got a short left elbow turnaround to drop on the smaller backup point, Shane Larkin, after Green recognized the miss-match and cleared out the left side for Livingston.
The quarter ended with Thompson missing another shot, short from the right elbow downtown, but the shot angled off short enough for Klay to retrieve his own rebound, low to the ground, and he found Marreese Speights wide open on the right baseline for an easy-flowing jumper. Kerr let out-of-rhythm Thompson play the entire quarter.
Stoudamire ended the first period with a put back off the backboard, using vintage Amar’e power, after Larkin missed another trey, and the Warriors took a 32-19 lead into the second quarter.
2ND QUARTER: Short Lapse Keeps This From Becoming A Blowout
Leandro Barbosa continued his strong bench play, hitting a three-pointer out of the gate, and Iguodala got this steal on a Larkin pass, then soared in for the dunk:
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Fisher called timeout and the second unit had stretched the Warriors’ lead to 39-22 with 10:13 left in the half.
Lee’s rhythm seemed to be back as he converted another and-one, this time on a post-up and attacking left-to-right with the right hand on Acy.
Things got a little sloppy after Jose Calderon threw a poor pass from the corner on the Triangle set, which Livingston easily intercepted, but Iguodala lost the ball on the other end in the paint, in which a hack may not have been called, Tim Hardaway, Jr. missed an early jumper on the other end, and Barbosa was careless with the ball on the way back, turning it over.
Calderon converted a layup off of a hand-off and Kerr called timeout to straighten things out, although the Warriors were way up at this point, 42-26, with 7:02 to go. Kerr brought Curry and Green back in to join with Barbosa, Iguodala, and Speights.
Green continued his hot shooting after Galloway missed a layup and Green got the rebound, dished out to Iguodala, and got the rock back, cutting to the hole, and Iguodala fed him for the and-one.
Draymond then splashed again from distance, this time behind a Curry screen beyond the arc, assisted by Bogut. However, Green tried a heat-check a few sequences later and was off.
The Warriors couldn’t quite put the game out of reach, due to a couple of careless turnovers by Curry. Thompson went up for a dunk, but Galloway fouled Klay’s neck, and the referees reviewed the tape and issue a Flagrant One. Thompson hit both free throws to give the Dubs a 54-30 lead with 4:34 to play in the half, but Curry threw the ball away on the ensuing possession.
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Later, with the shotclock winding down, Green got the ball isolated on the right side from Bogut and swished the jumper, but Curry turned it over again, trying to be too cute going between the legs in the left corner against two Knicks.
Stoudamire made the Warriors pay with an and-one post-up move against Bogut from the deep right block, trimming the Golden State lead to 56-39 with 2:40 left in the half.
A Calderon trey and another Stoudamire bucket at the rim capped a Knicks 8-0 run and all of a sudden it was a twelve-point game, 57-45, with 1:28 to go.
But Green went backdoor on a slip and Barnes fed him the layup with the left hand, with Stoudamire too late on the help and goaltending the shot after it had hit the backboard, then Curry made an early-offense one-handed layup using the right-side glass after Amar’e’s dribble attack into the paint was tapped away by Bogut and corralled by Curry going the other way.
Galloway answered with a three-pointer, but so did Curry from about a yard behind the arc, thanks to a high pick from Green with 5.1 seconds remaining, and the Warriors took a 64-48 lead into halftime.
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Green led all scorers with 16 points on 6-for-9 field and 3-for-5 downtown, to go along with 2 blocked shots and a game-leading 6 rebounds, while Lee added 10 points off the bench, 6 of them from the free throw line. Curry collected just 8 points and Klay was a cold 1-for-8 shooting with just 5 points.
Stoudamire led the Knicks with 11.
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