Knicks erase 21-point deficit to beat Warriors, 110-107
· Yahoo Sports
Ahead of tipoff between the Knicks and Golden State Warriors at Madison Square Garden on Sunday, two opposing head coaches had a word: Steve Kerr sent his former assistant coach Mike Brown a text message.
The gist of the text? Brown’s Knicks had better come prepared — because the Warriors, short virtually their entire starting lineup, had some tricks up their sleeves.
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“Steve texted me and he said he came up with some killer plays that were going to make us spin backwards and forward. I believe him,” Brown said during his pregame press conference on Sunday. “Situations like this, we faced it in Utah. We faced it to a certain degree in Indiana. They’re tough. But if you expect to be who you think you are at the end of the day, you will approach this in a business-like manner.”
The Knicks were closed for business in the first quarter, where the Warriors — without Stephen Curry, Jimmy Butler, Draymond Green, Kristaps Porzingis and De’Anthony Melton—out-executed them offensively to the tune of 35 points to just 21 for New York. The Knicks, who were down 21 points with 9:30 to go in the second quarter, went on to outscore the Warriors by 17 points in the second and third periods to punch a 110-107 victory over No. 9 Golden State on Sunday.
“The biggest thing is making sure you don’t skip any details,” Brown continued. “I think in games like this, the details or the small things are huge. And playing with a sense of urgency while making them feel you on both ends of the floor — that doesn’t mean going out and blowing them out, but if you’re lackadaisical at any point in the game for any stretch, they’re NBA players.
“A lot of these guys are hungry and some of them have proven that they belong on this level and in a pretty good spot in terms of a rotation. If you relax at any moment in time and they see one, two, three go in, like the guys did in Utah, it can be a climb back up the hill to get back in the game.”
With the stars sidelined due to injury, Kerr started Brandin Podziemski, Will Richard, Malevy Leons, Gui Santos and Quinten Post, with Podziemski (27 starts) and Post (33 starts) the only players with true starting experience in the lineup.
The Knicks — who have one of the league’s more stacked starting unit — welcomed Josh Hart back to the first five after missing two games due to knee soreness.
Yet it was the Knicks who played like the shorthanded, depleted team to start the night.
Podziemski scored a team-high 25 points on 8-of-15 shooting from the field, Post added 22 points on 9-o-f16 shooting, and the combination of Gui Santos and Gary Payton II combined to score 39 points on 15-of-25 shooting from the field.
Despite 30 points and nine assists from Jalen Brunson, the Warriors obscure barely lost to New York’s, 75-74.
“At the end of the day, you got to respect everybody. And if you’re in a situation like this [against a team without its starters], you never want to play with a game or anything like that [not respecting the opponent] because you’ll never what’ll happen at the end of a game,” Josh Hart said ahead of tipoff. “You don’t want to put yourself in that position for someone to make a shot, someone to miss a shot [or] a ref to call a call you don’t agree with.
“So we got to approach this like any other game. And if that’s the case, then we should handle business early and it should be a game where everybody gets to play. But these guys are good. They’re in the NBA for a reason.”
The Knicks got a boost from their bench, including 14 points from Jordan Clarkson and 10 more from Landry Shamet.
OG Anunoby hit the game-sealing free throws and finished with 14 points on six shot attempts. Karl-Anthony Towns added 17 points and 12 rebounds, and Mikal Bridges logged just 21 minutes for seven points on 3-of-10 shooting from the field.
The 21-minute performance marked the fewest Bridges has played in a non-blowout result this season.
The Warriors had a chance to send the game to overtime on the final possession of regulation, but Post, who hit four 3s on the night, fumbled the catch and turned the ball over, leaving the Knicks with the ball as the shot clock expired.
Next up, the Knicks host the Indiana Pacers (15-53) in their first of four straight games against teams tanking for the NBA Draft Lottery.