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Something special is happening here.
There haven’t been many shining moments for the Knicks against Stephen Curry since the Warriors drafted him in 2009.
But that became one of them on a Thursday night in San Francisco, when the Tom Thibodeau Knicks train passed through California and recovered a record .500.
The stars of the night were RJ Barrett, with his career record of 28 points, and Julius Randle, posting a near triple-double. Not curry.
“It’s a typical Thibs team,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said beforehand. “Defend like crazy. They are building a foundation.
The Knicks continued to build a winning streak that is now three games after stopping Curry in the second half and defeating the Warriors in an exhilarating 119-104 win.
“I don’t think we see ourselves as underdogs,” Randle said. “We consider ourselves to be a good team. We have pretty good team confidence. ”
After trashing the Warriors’ new digs in San Francisco, Thibodeau paid homage to Golden State and downplayed his team’s 8-8 mark.
Before the start of that four-game trip out West, Thibodeau said it didn’t matter statistics showing the Knicks were the best defensive team in the league. The Knicks coach said he just cares about wins, and now his team have three back-to-back triumphs to hang on their trophy wall.
It was still not enough for Thibodeau to take advantage of the unexpectedly strong start of his team.
“We have a lot of work to do,” said Thibodeau. “We can’t feel good. There are things we have done well. We had some good victories. We also had games that we could have played a lot better. We have to be honest with ourselves and know that there is a lot of work to be done, but we are improving and doing a lot better.
Curry has always haunted the Knicks franchise. The Warriors megastar was one place in the eighth selection in 09, where the Knicks waited with open arms.
All these years later, the Knicks and their defense have finally found a night to savor against Curry.
For the first eight minutes of the game, Knicks playmaker Elfrid Payton held Curry scoreless. Curry got hot, scored 20 points at halftime, then they stopped him cold in the second half. He improved his stats in the fourth quarter to 30 points, but only shot 5 of 14 of 3.
“A guy like Curry makes it impossible to keep up with just one guy,” Thibodeau said. “I thought Elfrid did as good a job as possible. What you’re trying to do is make him work as hard as you can on everything. “
At the end of the third quarter, Curry spat the ball out and Randle, who had 16 points, 17 rebounds and nine assists, picked it up and started a quick shot that Barrett finished for a 12-point lead. .
Barrett may be streaked, but he’s on his most scintillating run of his career, beating the Warriors with relentless drives and even hitting away from the 3-point line for 2 of 3 marks.
“He’s playing a great multiple game – he’s got a good mix of goals and assists,” said Thibodeau.
Barrett’s quick-breaking bucket came from Curry’s fourth turnover – and that was the game. The Warriors scored 17 points in this third quarter and trailed 89-76 in the final period.
In the fourth quarter, Curry was on the bench, shaking his head. Either he wanted to get back into the game on the second night of a game in a row, or he couldn’t believe his team was losing so badly to the Knicks,
The Warriors have the highest payroll in the league, the Knicks the lowest – $ 18 million below the salary cap. But the league’s growing defensive juggernaut continued to squeal and got stronger center play from the tandem of Mitchell Robinson and Nerlens Noel (four blocks).
The Knicks also got help from the umpires. Draymond Green picked up an early technique – rightly so – but a second at the end of the first half which led to his sending off was a referee’s error. Green was yelling at a teammate, not at the officials. Heck, the Knicks are getting the breaks.
Maybe they are outmatched at 8-8, but their long-suffering clients are watching this serious team on TV. The Post has learned that the Knicks have increased views on MSG Network by 26% from last season at this point.
You could tell before the contest that Kerr worried the Warriors would take the Knicks lightly. He said he was concerned about his team’s “energetic and emotional” state in the second leg of a game in a row and that they needed to build on the “fundamentals”.
For the third game in a row, the Knicks had the energy and another win as the Thibodeau train moved forward. Next stop: Sacramento.
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