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Posted at 10:25 AM ET October 26, 2018 |
NEW YORK (AP) – If that's what Kevin Durant can do at Madison Square Garden, it's no wonder that Knicks fans are as desperate as he comes to New York.
This kind of show was worth seeing more than once a season.
Durant scored 25 of his 41 points at the ruthless fourth-quarter clinic at Golden State and the Warriors beat the Knicks 128-100 on Friday night.
Durant has been the center of attention leading up to the game and then the star in front of fans who hope he'll consider the Knicks when he becomes a free agent this summer.
He is not interested in extrajudicial cases at the moment, but he loved what happened on the floor during his last quarter time of 10 to 13.
"It's like we get every green light when we go somewhere," Durant said.
Three after three quarters, New York led before Durant and the Warriors started to hit from anywhere, scoring 19 of the 26 – and things went so well that on a rare opportunity missed by Durant, the ball went completely bounced. Behind the bow, a very open Stephen Curry created the 3-pointer.
Asked what had changed in the fourth quarter, when Golden State dominated the game against 47 to 16 in New York, Knicks coach David Fizdale said: "Kevin Durant".
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Curry added 29 points and six 3-points, giving him at least five points in every game of the season. But in the field where he scored the best career score in 2013 with 54 points, his performance seemed almost calm because of Durant.
He finished 17 times out of 24, including 5 of 9 behind the bow – where one of the duds was a one-leg attempt.
Tim Hardaway Jr. scored 24 points for the Knicks, who lost five in a row after winning against Atlanta.
Fizdale has changed his starting lineup, with Hardaway, Frank Ntilikina, Noah Vonleh, Damyean Dotson and rookie Mitchell Robinson. The group provided an advance of 16-10.
But he was quickly eliminated largely by Curry, who made his first five shots, three in the back.
Durant drew a lot of attention to his arrival and a loud ovation when he was announced with the starting lineups. He can become a free agent after this season and Knicks fans hope he can speed up their rebuilding. A billboard asking him to come to New York appeared this week in a building near Madison Square Garden.
Curry said it was not a distraction, claiming that the Warriors had faced greater concerns in their three championships over the past four years.
"Her way of handling things, obviously let her piece speak for itself and not be too excited or involved, knowing that we still have seven months of that," Curry said. "So we know how to avoid distractions in our locker room and just play basketball and enjoy what we do."
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