The Knicks scored their largest comeback win of the season, overturning a 21-point deficit, against the Golden State Warriors for a 110-107 win at Madison Square Garden on Sunday.
Jalen Brunson scored 30 points (9-for-20 shooting, 10-for-10 from the line), with nine assists, and was a plus-7 in 36 minutes. But the Knicks really got good stretches from Josh Hart (seven points, 12 rebounds, five assists in 31 minutes for a team-high plus-17) and Jordan Clarkson off the bench (14 points on 6-for-11 shooting) and a plus-14 in 22 minutes.
New York (44-25) played down to the competition for much of the game against an undermanned Golden State (32-35) that was playing without Steph Curry, Kristaps Porzingis, Draymond Green, Al Horford, Moses Moody, Seth Curry, and De'Anthony Melton.
After shooting 16-for-39 (41 percent) in the first half, the home side improved to 23-for-45 (51.1 percent) as they finally showed off the gulf in quality after the break. But the three-point shooting was bleak, going 10-for-32 (31.3 percent) for the game and letting the Warriors go 14-for-38 (36.8 percent), which kept them in the contest.
Here are the takeaways...
- The Warriors, who shoot and make more threes than any team in the league, kept on counter-punching. Clarkson proved his worth with six quick points in the quarter to give him 12 as he was a plus-17 (a team-high) in his first 17 minutes on the floor.
Mitchell Robinson's put-back slam and Clarkson's elbow floater gave New York its largest lead at seven at the midway point, but Quinten Post’s three, to give him 20 in the game, and Gui Santos' layup after jumping on a loose ball, to give him 16, forced a Mike Brown timeout to get Brunson back into the game.
The Knicks had several chances to put the game out of reach but missed buckets, and the Warriors took advantage, getting to the cup to keep it a one-point game. After Brandin Podziemski missed a three with 24 seconds to play, Landry Shamet knocked down two at the line to give the home team a 108-105 lead with 16 seconds to play.
A Podziemski layup with seven seconds left made it a one-point game for the third time in the last minute of action. After two OGAnunoby free throws, the Warriors, out of the timeout, had a chance to tie, but couldn't even get a shot off before turning it over with one second remaining.
- Halftime adjustments worked as the second half began with Karl-AnthonyTowns showing more impetus, scoring seven quick points, and Steve Kerr called for time with their edge to just four points four minutes into the quarter.
The Warriors weathered the storm with Gary Payton II and Podziemski going at Towns and Brunson, before Mikal Bridges knocked down a long two to tie the game at 73 with under four left in the third. And with 2:16 to play in the period, Brunson gave the Knicks a two-point lead, their first since two minutes into the game, giving him nine points to go with five assists in the quarter. Shamet's layup gave New York an 83-80 edge to protect in the fourth, thanks to a 38-point third.
- The Knicks started the game well, connecting on five of their first seven attempts from the field, but the Warriors started better, hitting five of five and with four more from the line had a four-point edge after Post knocked down his second three, leading to a Brown timeout under four minutes in.
New York just had nothing after that, going 2-for-16 the rest of the first quarter and looked very out of sorts on offense. Meanwhile, Golden State was a respectable 6-for-13 and with an 11-0 run, took a 35-21 lead into the second quarter as the air all but left MSG.
- Payton's back-to-back threes, the second on a total defensive breakdown that saw him left wide open, meant another Brown timeout just two minutes into the second quarter with the visitors' lead pushed to 19. The Warriors looked out of control as they ran a rudimentary offense with so many regular players out (nine turnovers to that point), but the Knicks couldn’t take advantage and cut the lead as they were 3-for-17 from three to that point.
The Knicks, after falling behind by 21, finally came back to life with an 11-4 run, taking advantage of three more Warriors turnovers. Shamet's corner three cut the deficit to single digits at 54-45, but it was papering over a lot of ugliness from New York.
Brunson led the Knicks with 17 in the first half (5-for-12 from floor, 1-for-5 from deep) in 19 first-half minutes, and there was just not much from any of the other starters: Anunoby had seven (2-for-4) in 13 minutes, Towns had four points (2-for-4 in 12 minutes), Bridges had three (1-for-4) in just eight minutes, and Hart had two (1-for-2) in 17 minutes.
- Towns finished with 17 points (7-for-12 shooting) with 12 rebounds (five offensive) and two assists. He had an even plus-minus in 31 minutes. Bridges had seven points (3-for-10, 1-for-6 from three) with three rebounds, two assists, two blocks, and was a minus-2 in 22 minutes.
Off the bench, Robinson added four points and 10 rebounds in 17 minutes and was a minus-6. Shamet had 10 points (3-for-10, 2-for-8 from deep) and was a plus-3 in 27 minutes. Jose Alvarado added four points and four assists, but was a minus-13 in 15 minutes.
- Play was paused temporarily twice in the first quarter, first when Podziemski had a cut on his hand and later when Anunoby took a shot to the face and had blood coming out of his nose. Anunoby would eventually have to head to the New York locker room when he checked out midway through the period before checking back in.
What's next
The Knicks are back in action at MSG on Tuesday night against the Indiana Pacers. Tip is set for 7:30 p.m.
