Something special is happening here.
The Knicks vs. Stephen Curry have not had very bright moments since the Warriors drafted him in 2009.
But it became one of them on a Thursday night in San Francisco, when the Tom Thibodeau Knicks train rolled through California and regained a record of 500.
The stars of the night were RJ Barrett, with his career high of 28 points, and Julius Randle, who posted an almost triple double. Not Curry.
“This is a typical Thibs team,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said in advance. ‘Defend like crazy. They are building a foundation. ‘
The Knicks continued to build a winning streak, which was now three games, after beating Curry in the second half and beating the Warriors in an exciting 119-104 victory.
“I do not think we consider ourselves underdog,” Randle said. “We consider ourselves a good team. We have pretty good team confidence. ”
After going through the Warriors’ new excavations, Thibodeau paid tribute to Golden State and reduced his team’s score to 8-8.
Before this Western tour began with four games, Thibodeau said statistics showing the Knicks as the league’s best defensive team were not important. The Knicks coach said he only cares about wins, and now his team has three straight standouts to hang on to his trophy wall.
It was still not enough for Thibodeau to play in his team’s unexpected solid start.
“We have a lot of work to do,” Thibodeau said. “We can not feel good. There are things we have done well. We had some good wins. We also had games in which we could play much better. We need to be honest with ourselves and know that there is a lot of work to do, but we are improving and doing much better. ”
Curry haunts the Knicks franchise forever. The Warriors megastar was once away from the move to the eighth pick in ’09, where the Knicks waited with open arms.
All those years later, the Knicks and their defense finally found an evening to feast on Curry.
Knicks point guard Elfrid Payton kept Curry scoreless during the first eight minutes of the game. Curry got hot, scored 20 points at halftime, and then they stopped him cold in the second half. He filled his stats in the fourth quarter’s fill time to reach 30 points, but shot just 5 of 14 of 3.
” A man like Curry, it’s impossible to watch over one man, ” Thibodeau said. ‘I thought Elfrid did as good a job as you can. What you are trying to do is make him work as hard as possible for everything. ”
Late in the third quarter, Curry coughed up the ball and Randle, who posted 16 points, 17 rebounds and nine assists, picked it up and started a fast lane leading Barrett by 12 points.
Barrett may be syrupy, but he’s at his most dazzlingly hot run in his career, hitting the Warriors with relentless drives and even hitting away from the 3-point line for 2 to 3 make.
“He’s playing a great all-around game – he has a good mix of points and passes,” Thibodeau said.
Barrett’s quick bucket achieved Curry’s fourth turnover – and that was the game. The Warriors scored 17 points in that third quarter and entered the final period 89-76.
In the fourth quarter, Curry was on the bench shaking his head. Either he wanted to get back in the game on the second night of a rugby player, or he could not believe that his team lost the Knicks so badly,
The Warriors have the highest payroll in the league, the Knicks the lowest – $ 18 million below the salary cap. But the league’s increasing defensive youth continued to grind and gained stronger center play from the tandem of Mitchell Robinson and Nerlens Noel (four blocks).
The Knicks also got help from the referees. Draymond Green got an early technical action – well deserved – but a second one late in the first half that led to his ejection was a referee. Green yells at a teammate, not at the officials. Heck, the Knicks get the break.
Maybe they are overachievers at 8-8, but their long-suffering patrons are watching this grim team on TV. The Post has learned that Knicks is currently watching 26 percent on MSG Network.
You could see before the game that Kerr was worried that the Warriors could take the Knicks lightly. He said he was concerned about the team’s “energy and emotional” state on the second leg of a rugby player, and that they should rely on ‘fundamentals’. ‘
For the third consecutive game, the Knicks gained the energy and another victory when the Thibodeau train passed. Next stop: Sacramento.