SAN FRANCISCO — The Golden State Warriors were out-hustled, out-muscled and out-classed from the opening tip by the shorthanded New York Knicks on Monday, falling 119-112 at Chase Center. New York scored the game's first eight points and led 15-4 five minutes into the first quarter, setting the tone for a disappointing effort from the Warriors as they try to scratch and claw their way up the Western Conference standings.
“From the very beginning we were swimming upstream,” Steve Kerr said after the game.
Golden State had no answer for Jalen Brunson, who followed up back-to-back 40-point outings with 34 points and seven assists on 12-of-25 shooting, proving too quick, strong and crafty for all-comers off the bounce. Miles McBride parlayed hot early shooting into his best night as a pro, hounding Stephen Curry on one end while dropping a career-high 29 points and six triples on the other.
Donte DiVincenzo scored 18 points in his return to the Bay, while Josh Hart racked up another triple-double. Isaiah Hartenstein was the best big man on the floor, owning the paint defensively and connecting on several tough floaters in pick-and-roll en route to 13 points, 10 rebounds and four assists.
The Knicks racked up a 124.0 offensive rating, two points better than the Boston Celtics' league-leading mark. Brunson consistently drew two defenders in ball-screen action, forcing rotations from the Warriors that New York regularly beat with quick ball movement. Stephen Curry was beaten backdoor by McBride for layups on multiple occasions, and even Draymond Green couldn't put out Brunson's individual fire.
Curry shot 8-of-20 from the field and missed nine three-pointers, finishing with 27 points. Green and Brandin Podziemski combined for two points in 55 total minutes of action, and Wiggins needed nine shots to score seven points. Led by Klay Thompson, Trayce Jackson-Davis and Chris Paul, Golden State's bench outscored the starters 60-52.
Tom Thibodeau's team definitely executed better on both sides of the ball. The Knicks simply wanted it more than the Dubs, too. Led by Klay Thompson, Trayce Jackson-Davis and Chris Paul
“I just didn’t think we were disciplined enough throughout the game to earn the win,” Kerr said. “We were biting on pump-fakes on non-shooters, we were getting back cut over and over again, which compromised our defense. They had 14 offensive boards.”
Warriors dip back to 10th-place after ‘disappointing' loss to Knicks
The loss drops the Warriors back into 10th-place in the Western Conference after the Los Angeles Lakers blew out the Atlanta Hawks. They're now one game back of the purple-and-gold in the standings, without an ironclad grip on the head-to-head tiebreaker as an April 9th matchup with the Lakers at Crypto.com Arena looms.
All signs still point to Golden State and Los Angeles battling it out in the bottom half of the play-in tournament bracket. A win over the decimated Memphis Grizzlies on Wednesday would help the Dubs' quest for home-court advantage in that prospective do-or-die matchup, but their performance against New York is another reminder no victory is guaranteed for this team.
“I don’t think it’s a lack of effort. I think it’s just…We weren’t good enough,” Kerr said, searching for words. “It’s that simple. We just did not play well enough. It’s disappointing because we’ve got these three home games here this week and we wanted to get off on the right track. But that’s a really good team and they just out-played us, simple as that.”
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