The Knicks and the Warriors were both coming off of 2 game win streaks. The Knicks were being led by Julius Randle who was averaging 22.8 points, 11 rebounds, and 6.1 assists. The Knicks came into this game with the number 1 defense in the league and a 6-7 record. The Warriors came into the game at 8-7. The Warriors were being led by Stephen Curry who was averaging 28.1 points. To win this game the Warriors needed to have a good game out of Curry and play good defense on Julius Randle.The Warriors also hoped to keep their momentum from the last game against the Spurs. For the Knicks to win this game they needed to have multiple players score 20+ points and play great defense especially on Curry and Wiseman. To the game!
To start off the game RJ Barrett made 1 of 2 free throws after being fouled on a layup. Andrew Wiggins then made layup to give the Warriors the lead and their first points of the game. At 7:27 Julius Randle made 1 of 2 free throws to give the Knicks a 18-8 lead. At around the 5 minute mark Kent Bazemore made a 3 to lower the Knicks lead to 4. At 4:02 Julius Randle made a free throw to retake a 10 point lead for the Knicks. At 2:29 Stephen Curry made a 3 pointer to lower the Knicks lead to 5. At the end of the first quarter the Knicks were leading 40-31. The Warriors rebounding issue reappeared in the first quarter having 8 less rebounds than the Knicks. Another issue for the Warriors was that they gave up 40 points in the first quarter. Stephen Curry was leading the Warriors in points with 11 and RJ Barrett was leading the Knicks with 14 going into the 2 quarter. The shooting splits were 50% from 2 and 33.3% from 3. The Knicks shot very well with 54.5% from 2 and 66.7% from 3.
Former Warrior Alec Burks made 2 free throws for the first points of the 2nd quarter. About a minute later Eric Paschall made a layup to give the Warriors their first points of the 2nd quarter. At 5:56 Andrew Wiggins made a 3 to lower the Knicks lead to 4. At around 3:00 Andrew Wiggins made a step back jumper to make the score 52-50. At 2:01 Stephen Curry made 2 free throws to tie the game at 55. At 1:04 Draymond Green got his second technical foul which got him ejected from the game. At the end of the half the score was 63-57. The Knicks were being led by RJ Barrett who had 18 points after the 1st half. The Warriors were being led by Stephen Curry who had 20 points. In the second quarter the Warriors played much better defense and did much better on the boards. One of the main reasons why the Knicks were winning was how well they were shooting. They shot 45.9% from the field and 57.1% from deep. The Warriors on the other hand shot 45% from the field and 28.6% from deep. With Draymond Green out for the rest of the game it was likely that Eric Paschall would get a few more minutes and a few more points too. In the first half the Warriors weren’t really able to use James Wiseman with lobs as effectively as they usually do. To the third!
To start off the 3rd James Wiseman made a jumper to lower the Knicks lead to 4. From the 10 minute mark to the 5 minute mark the Knicks slowly built their lead up to 10 points. At 4:41 the Knicks took a 12 point lead which was their biggest to that point. At 2:45 Mitchell Robinson got put back dunk to give the Knicks their biggest lead to that point at 13. Julius Randle then made 2 free throws to give the Knicks a 15 point lead. At the end of the third quarter the Knicks were leading by 13 at 89-76. Draymond Green getting ejected really proved to be essential in the 3rd quarter. The Knicks played much better in the 3rd quarter winning it by 7. The shooting splits were 46.6% from 2 and 50% from 3 for the Knicks and 41.3% from 2 and 20.7% from 3. The Warriors went into the 4th quarter needing someone to go off.
The first points of the quarter came off of 2 technical free throws for Immanuel Quickley. At 8:09 Brad Wannamaker made 2 free throws to lower the Knicks lead to 13. With 4:40 to go RJ Barrett made a jumper to give him a career high and the Knicks a 17 point lead. Throughout the middle of the quarter the Knicks stayed with their lead and lots of foul calls never let the Warriors get momentum. With 20.1 seconds left the Knicks took their biggest lead of the game with 18. To end the game the Warriors got a 3 to make the final score 119-104.
Leo’s Courtside Commentary: After Draymond Green was ejected for yelling at James Wiseman and the ref thought that he was yelling at him. The Warriors defense imploded in the second half after Draymond was ejected. There were also a total of 55 fouls in the game which made it impossible to get any momentum or rallies going. The Knicks also shot very well with 46.3% from the field and 45.8% from deep. The Warriors on the contrary didn’t shoot very well with 38.4% from 2 and 23.7% from 3. The scoring leaders were RJ Barrett with his career high of 28 points and Stephen Curry had 30. Overall, this was a terrible game with way too much fouling.
Out of LF 