Game Thread: New York Knicks @ Golden State Warriors 10:30pm 3/16/2016

One way of describing the different levels Golden State and New York exist on is simply stating one is 33 games ahead of the other.

Another would be to point out that over the last three meetings, the Warriors have made more 3-pointers than the Knicks have free throws.

No matter how it's sliced, New York doesn't seem to be the opponent that will deny Golden State a 50th straight home win, but it'll give it a shot Wednesday night as the Warriors conclude a six-game homestand seeking a sixth straight victory.

The stretch of home games hasn't been without some mild scares against questionable opponents. It started with a 119-113 win over Orlando on March 7, and Phoenix ran out of gas and lost 123-116 five days later.

The Warriors, though, followed that up with a 125-107 win over New Orleans on Monday. Golden State has shot 51.9 percent and 42.9 from 3-point range with 14.0 makes per game on the homestand as it extended its NBA-record home run.

The latest victory gave the Warriors a second straight 60-win season, a foregone conclusion for some time.

"Sixty and 6 sounds good," said Stephen Curry, whose 27 points were more than three below his season average. "It's a big accomplishment."

Klay Thompson played just 26 minutes and scored 18 points but has been locked in since a horrible shooting effort in a loss to the Los Angeles Lakers before the homestand. The guard has averaged 25.0 points and made 54.8 percent from 3-point range in the five games since.

He and his backcourt mate are the main reasons Steve Kerr has now been a part of consecutive 60-win seasons as a player and coach.

"It's so rare in the NBA, in your first coaching job, to inherit a great team. They had already won 50-plus before I even got here," Kerr said. "I'm pretty lucky to coach these guys."

The Warriors have taken the last three meetings with the Knicks by an average of 22.0 points, hitting 53.4 percent from 3-point range with an average of 15.7 makes. The Knicks have made 15.3 free throws.

Curry, though, has been limited to 20.0 points in those meetings and was 5 of 17 for 13 points in a 116-95 road win Jan. 31. The Warriors had no shortage of options with Thompson scoring 34 on 14-of-18 shooting, while Draymond Green had 20 on 9 of 9 with 10 rebounds and 10 assists.

The Knicks have shot 38.8 percent in the three straight defeats, and no team has beaten the Warriors with that low of a shooting percentage in 152 regular-season games since Denver on April 10, 2014.

New York (28-40) has split the first four of a six-game road trip, including Sunday's 90-87 win over the Lakers as Jose Calderon hit a 3-pointer in the final second. With Kristaps Porzingis out due to illness, Carmelo Anthony scored a game-high 26 points and had quite the assessment of a matchup of teams with nearly as many combined wins as Toronto.

"I wanted this one," said Anthony, who's made at least half of his shots in five straight games while averaging 24.6 points and 53.4 percent shooting. "Going back and forth just made it that much better. I'm pretty sure we gave the fans what they paid to see out there tonight.

"The way this game played itself out, we didn't want it to come down to the wire, but it was one of those games that was for the ages."

Others might call it putting off clinching a fourth straight season without a winning record for one more game.

Anthony has been limited to 15.3 points and 28.6 percent in his last three road games against Golden State.

(nba.com)

Thanks for the game thread Rady.

You really have to be a Knicks fan to stay up till 1am to see the Knicks get beat.

Warriors not playing well early shooting 28% 7mins in. but still have a 9-6 lead.

Good D by the Warriors clogging the lane and doubling shooters.

Curry with 4 3s 1st qtr and a couple of floaters. He's the machine not Sasha.

Knicks down by 12 1st qtr.

Too much firepower when your backup PF Speights can knock down 3s.

Until the rest of the NBA adjusts to a team that seems like it can just rain 3 pointers against you from anywhere at any time, the Warriors are almost a sure bet to easily win most games, especially at home. We're not even playing that poorly, but you can't hang with a team that is a risk to hit 20 3-pointers on any given night that also plays solid team defense unless you shoot the lights out yourself.

Calderon out after colliding with Green on a screen. Looked like some kind of thigh bruise, I don't think it's serious.

Curry 5-9 from 3 8-12 overall, just another day at the office.

Warriors up 62-46 at the half.

KP looking like the long term project we predicted before he got drafted. He's sort of like the rookie phenom pitcher that dominated early in the season and then the league starts hitting him after they get a good look at him late in the season.

28 pt lead mid 3d qtr. Good night KOL.

Sasha and Calderon, the starting backcourt for the NYK, combine for 6 points and 2 assists...

Curry and Klay go for 53 and 4...

Maurice Speights matches Melo's offense... It's hysterical that CA has to be in a starting lineup of Calderon, Sasha, and KP.

KP is 1-11 and looked so bad that he didn't even appear to be an NBA player worthy of being on the floor playing against other professional ballers.

If we're gonna lose for 30 anyway... Do we really need to watch Sasha and Calderon play? Neither will be here next year.

Unfortunately you're not permitted to forfeit a game in the NBA, bc this team looked like it knew it was losing from the get go... 2-6 from the FT line in the first demonstrated their aloof focus.

mafra said:

Sasha and Calderon, the starting backcourt for the NYK, combine for 6 points and 2 assists...

Curry and Klay go for 53 and 4...

Maurice Speights matches Melo's offense... It's hysterical that CA has to be in a starting lineup of Calderon, Sasha, and KP.

KP is 1-11 and looked so bad that he didn't even appear to be an NBA player worthy of being on the floor playing against other professional ballers.

If we're gonna lose for 30 anyway... Do we really need to watch Sasha and Calderon play? Neither will be here next year.

Unfortunately you're not permitted to forfeit a game in the NBA, bc this team looked like it knew it was losing from the get go... 2-6 from the FT line in the first demonstrated their aloof focus.

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If the kid doesn't pick up his game I'm going to have to drop my avatar of the Latvian flag and sig of him dunking on the Spurs.

I never could comprehend why the NBA allows terrible teams to go 48 minutes against elite teams. Would a Division 1 college basketball team be allowed to play against 9[SUP]th[/SUP] graders? The fact that there are 30 teams in the NBA with only about 3 of them being contenders is a joke. Do we need to watch a full season of the Warriors embarrass teams like the Knicks, Suns, T’Wolves and Pelicans?

People like to say that the reason why guys like Bill Russell and Sam Jones won so many championships was because they played in an era in which there weren’t many NBA teams. But is today’s scarcity of competition in the NBA any different than it was 50 or 60 years ago?

This is why the Golden-State Warriors run does not impress me at all. People act like they’re doing this on a nightly basis against teams like the Spurs and Cavaliers. I know that they blew those teams out in the few meetings they had versus them, but I doubt Golden-State would even be 51-16 right now if the teams they had to play regularly were close to their level in competition. I don’t consider the Clippers and Thunder elite teams since they have no championships to display and get exposed in the playoffs every season.

It's been quite apparent #kporzee hit the skids a while ago. He needs to make tremendous strides next yr. Oh welp...Phil you did what you did on draft night.

Broadway said:

It's been quite apparent #kporzee hit the skids a while ago. He needs to make tremendous strides next yr. Oh welp...Phil you did what you did on draft night.

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I actually thought it was Rambis causing the dropoff in his offensive production, while his PPG of nearly 14ppg is the same as under both Rambis and Fisher his shooting % has fallen by about 5 pts from 42% to 37%. Could be just a shooters slump but Rambis is right if he took shots closer to the basket he wouldn't have the volatility in his shooting numbers like we're seeing.

tiger0330 said:

I actually thought it was Rambis causing the dropoff in his offensive production, while his PPG of nearly 14ppg is the same as under both Rambis and Fisher his shooting % has fallen by about 10 pts from 42% to 32%. Could be just a shooters slump but Rambis is right if he took shots closer to the basket he wouldn't have the volatility in his shooting numbers like we're seeing.

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IF KP had started his rookie season taking the majority of his shots within 15 feet of the basket, KP would be considered a legit rookie big man shooting 50% for the season.
ROOKIE KP were given the green-light to take the first, or second, or 3rd shot to start each game, and KP took those shots from behind the 3 ball line during the months of Nov. Dec. and January .. what part of ROOKIE season the Knicks organization did not understand about KP talent n performance.
Everytime KP took the first shot of the game from the 3 ball line .. I had to remind everyone KP is NOT a NBA Starter! WTF! .. I know now it was not Fisher that put KP in the starter lineup.
Fisher trying to take KP out of the starter lineup is probably what got Fisher FIRED.
If I were the head coach i would've quit .. Hell No i wouldn't! For $5M per i would've started our D.League players if thas what the upstairs office wanted LMFAO

Just in case none of KO members know .. right now we have the worst winning head-coach in the NBA.
Thas why i did not watch last night game vs the championship Warriors.

knicksin60 said:

I never could comprehend why the NBA allows terrible teams to go 48 minutes against elite teams. Would a Division 1 college basketball team be allowed to play against 9[SUP]th[/SUP] graders? The fact that there are 30 teams in the NBA with only about 3 of them being contenders is a joke. Do we need to watch a full season of the Warriors embarrass teams like the Knicks, Suns, T’Wolves and Pelicans?

People like to say that the reason why guys like Bill Russell and Sam Jones won so many championships was because they played in an era in which there weren’t many NBA teams. But is today’s scarcity of competition in the NBA any different than it was 50 or 60 years ago?

This is why the Golden-State Warriors run does not impress me at all. People act like they’re doing this on a nightly basis against teams like the Spurs and Cavaliers. I know that they blew those teams out in the few meetings they had versus them, but I doubt Golden-State would even be 51-16 right now if the teams they had to play regularly were close to their level in competition. I don’t consider the Clippers and Thunder elite teams since they have no championships to display and get exposed in the playoffs every season.

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So True! So True!
I compare this Warrior team to some of our top-5 NBA teams in past seasons that didnt win a championship .. the Nash/Matrix/Amare Phoenix Suns team, or the Penny Hardaway n Shaq season that got swept in the Finals depending on their 3 ball shooting, or the TMC Warriors that beat the Magic Johnson Lakers in a series ........