Knicks Win Three in a Row, Defeat Golden State, 119-114

The New York Knicks recorded a big win on the road, beating the Golden State Warriors tonight, 119-104.

This is the third straight victory for the franchise from the Big Apple, and an indication that they might be one pretty pleasant surprise this season.

“Every day, they come in with a lot of energy. Some days we make mistakes. But the next day, there’s a determination to correct mistakes and get better. If we do that each and every day, we’ll continue to grow,” said Tom Thibodeau, Knicks’ head coach following the game.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gNIoaPmNsrA

His team didn’t have too many errors in this matchup, as they outplayed hosts in almost every aspect of the game. Knicks reached a double-digit lead midway through the first period, and were ahead until the late phase of the second period. With two minutes until the break, Steph Curry hit a free throw to level the score at 55-both, and it seemed that the Warriors might take the match under control.

However, that turned out to be everything the home team did, as New York quickly responded by pulling away to a safe distance, and establishing a two-digit gap in the third quarter. Mitchell Robinson’s dunk with 5:43 to go saw NY making the biggest lead of the meeting, 104-85. It was the moment when everybody realized that the game is over.

RJ Barrett had a career-high 28 points, while shooting 10-for-17, with five assists. Julius Randle ended up one assist short of posting a triple-double, having 16 points, 17 rebounds, and nine dimes.

Robinson had a solid game with 18 buckets and eight boards, while Elfrid Payton added 15 and Reggie Bullock 12. The former GSW guard, Alec Burks scored 11 off the bench, and Nerlens Noel added six with 11 boards, also off the bench.

The hosts were handicapped by Draymond Green’s ejection late in the first half. One of the officials thought that Green yelled at him, but he didn’t see James Wiseman, who was the real target of the veteran’s anger. He would show Green the way to the locker room, leaving the Warriors without one of their most influential players.

Head coach Steve Kerr didn’t want to use this to justify his team’s loss, but instead admitted that the Warriors played bad.

“Obviously, Draymond is one of our best and most impactful players so it hurt us, but we were playing very poorly to that point anyway. So I’m not going to talk about the officiating, I’m going to talk about our poor play.”

Steph Curry dropped 30 points, with four assists and two steals, scoring five threes in 14 attempts. Andrew Wiggins had 17 and nine rebounds, while James Wiseman dropped 15 with 8 boards. Erich Paschall ended the night with 12 points off the bench, reaching the 1,000-point mark since joining the NBA.

Warriors made just nine threes in 38 attempts, 23.7%, which is way too low for this team. They also allowed the guests to have more rebounds, 55-46.

Golden State is still above .500, with eight wins and seven losses. They will be heading for Salt Lake City to meet the Jazz on Saturday night. After that, GSW awaits Minnesota Timberwolves in back-to-back meetings at Chase Center.

The Knicks have three more road events coming up, against the Kings in Sacramento, Trail Blazers in Portland, and the Jazz in Salt Lake.