What we learned as Warriors’ defense fuels gritty win over Knicks originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area
SAN FRANCISCO – The Warriors on Saturday night at Chase Center extended their win streak to seven consecutive games, beating the New York Knicks, 97-94, making more history along the way.
Steve Kerr now has 558 career regular-season wins as the Warriors’ head coach, giving him one more than Hall of Famer and franchise icon Al Attles.
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Steph Curry scored a game-high 28 points, and added seven rebounds and five assists. The spotlight always belongs to Curry. Moses Moody in this win deserves an equal amount of praise.
Moody was a plus-12, scoring 18 huge points and draining four 3-pointers, each one feeling more timely than the other.
The Warriors’ largest lead was nine points. The Knicks’ largest lead was five points. This came down to the last man standing as the Warriors outlasted every punch the Knicks threw their way.
Here are three takeaways from yet another impressive Warriors win.
Draymond, KAT Claw All Game
The matchup to watch was between a Swiss Army Knife who plays point-center and a 7-footer who lives behind the 3-point line. Basketball wasn’t the main reason everybody was locked into watching Draymond Green and Karl-Anthony Towns. Controversy was.
Towns missed the Knicks’ game against the Warriors at Madison Square Garden on March 4, to which Green on his podcast joked the All-Star center was ducking Butler, his former teammate in Minnesota. The real reason Towns didn’t play was to attend the funeral of a longtime family friend.
Trash talk began shortly after the opening tip. Towns got Green to jump on pump fake, drove past him and threw down a dunk. When Green one minute later went through Towns for a contested layup, the volume was turned up. The same can be said about Green’s reaction to his first three of the night.
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Green’s defensive genius was on display in the second quarter while guarding Towns behind the 3-point line. Towns, dribbling between his legs, tried to lull Green. But right when Towns gathered to get in a shooting motion, Green got right up on him, knocking the ball off Towns and out of bounds.
All four quarters felt like a heavyweight fight, especially between two big men who are polar opposites. Towns dropped 29 points and grabbed 12 rebounds, but Green hit him with Curry’s signature Night Night celebration after driving past him for a layup with 25 seconds remaining in the game.
Another New Starting Lineup
Quinten Post as a rookie already has given Golden State more than the Warriors ever could have asked for this season. The fact is, despite all the winning, the Warriors’ starting lineup hasn’t been working as Brandin Podziemski continues to nurse his lower back soreness.
The five-man lineup of Curry, Butler, Green, Post and Moses Moody had played four games together going into Saturday night for a total of 32 minutes. They produced a minus-21.9 net rating with a 95.8 offensive rating and a 117.6 defensive rating. Steve Kerr had seen enough, at least for one game, so he opted to use his 36th different starting lineup this season.
In came Gui Santos for Post. Even with Santos’ first 3-point attempt getting blocked, he showed why he’s the perfect glue guy and fits multiple lineups.
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Kerr’s newest starting five played the first four-plus minutes of the game together, spending five minutes and 25 seconds on the floor as a group in the first half. Through two quarters, they outscored the Knicks 12-11. Santos in 25 minutes had five points and seven rebounds. As a group, the starting five played 12 minutes and 19 seconds together, outscoring the Knicks by one point, 25-24.
Every Detail Matters
Both the Warriors and Knicks have star powers. Big names on the court, and fan bases full of celebrities. A game between two contenders came down to every small detail mattering.
The Warriors in their previous five games averaged more than 16 turnovers, which resulted in an average of nearly 20 points for the opposition. In their win against the Knicks, the Warriors are two fewer turnovers. As the Warriors totaled 11 turnovers that resulted in eight points for the Knicks, Golden State turned New York’s 13 turnovers into 19 points.
Though the Knicks had four more rebounds, 10 more points in the paint and eight more second-chance points, the Warriors won the battle of assists, 3-pointers, free throws, steals and fastbreak points.
Their bench also outscored the Knicks 26-4.
Strong screens. Better box outs. Crisp passes and disrupting the lanes defensively. That’s how the Warriors will beat teams chasing a title like the Knicks, as well as their next two opponents in the Denver Nuggets and Milwaukee Bucks.
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