Warriors continue to surge, earn rock-fight victory over Knicks
SAN FRANCISCO — Like the individual matchup between Draymond Green and Karl-Anthony Towns, the Warriors and Knicks locked their horns.
Neither team led by double digits all night, the final three quarters were rock fights and the officials permitted each team to play bruising defense. Steph Curry even took the podium with a reddish shiner under his right eye.
Although Towns (29 points, 12 rebounds) won his battle against Green, the Saginaw native polished off the 97-94 victory with a “Night-Night” celebration.. Golden State (39-28) held the Knicks to three points in the last 2:52 before garbage time, shutting down Towns and anyone else with tenacious energy.
The win gives head coach Steve Kerr 558 regular season victories, making him the sole franchise record holder. The Warriors are now 14-1 with Jimmy Butler in the lineup and have beaten the Knicks twice in the past two weeks.
“We’re on a good run, but we know exactly what’s happening: nobody else is losing behind us,” Kerr said. “So we’ve got to keep fighting and keep winning.”
Earlier this month, Green spread an erroneous rumor that Towns missed their game against the Warriors because he was ducking Butler, his former teammate. In reality, Towns was attending the funeral of a family friend who died of breast cancer.
Given an opportunity to apologize, Green said he was sorry for Towns’ loss, but also plugged his podcast twice.
That drama set the stage for Saturday night.
Towns went right at Green early. On the Knicks’ first possession, he pump-faked Green out of his shoes and soared in for a dunk. In the first five minutes, Towns collected six points, five rebounds and two assists while being guarded by Green. Then he added a step-back 3 over Jonathan Kuminga and a euro-step past Buddy Hield for good measure.
As Towns cooked, Kuminga made a strong two-way impact off the bench. In his second game back from his severe ankle sprain, Kuminga played under control, pushed the pace and filled up the stat sheet.
Butler banked in a running halfcourt shot to put the Warriors on top, 32-31, after the first quarter.
Green forced a Towns turnover in an isolation situation on the wing, batting the ball out of the center’s hands. Then they got tangled up on the other end, with Towns getting whistled for his third foul. Green pointed toward New York’s bench afterward, signaling for Towns to go take a seat (which he did).
New York’s defense improved without Towns (and Jalen Brunson, who missed the game with a sprained ankle). The Knicks held Golden State scoreless for three minutes, a stretch that included three turnovers.
With Towns’ foul trouble, Mikal Bridges, Miles McBride and OG Anunoby stepped up. But defensive havoc from Green generated points in transition.
Towns opened the second half by splashing in his second 3-pointer and the Knicks retook the lead shortly thereafter. After Towns finished a left-handed drive past Green, the Warriors briefly switched Butler onto the center. That didn’t work. Then Towns scored in the post against Green.
As Towns cooked, Curry heated up. He sank a pair of 3s and scored 12 of the Warriors’ 21 third-quarter points, helping preserve Golden State’s slim lead.
Towns scored nine straight points as part of an 11-4 Knicks run to draw New York within two. As the Warriors got 3-happy, Towns feasted inside.
Towns missed a 3-pointer with two minutes left that would’ve put New York ahead and Green stonewalled McBride at the rim for a block before coming up with a strip on Towns, drawing an offensive foul in the process.
To put the Knicks away, Green drove past Towns and finished at the rim. For the second time this year, he borrowed Curry’s “Night-Night” celebration (Curry graded it an A-). He got the last laugh, and when Towns ultimately fouled out, the Chase Center fans waved him goodbye.
“It was good to see KAT show up and play like that,” Green said postgame. “Played hard, played well. Physical. Probably the most physical I’ve ever seen him. Had a little extra motivation so that made the game really fun, that was great.”