Stephen Curry continued to torment the New York Knicks from beyond the arc, sinking 6-of-10 from deep and 9-of-18 from the field for 26 points in a 92-63 throttling of the Knicks.
The last time these teams met Curry erupted for 54 points in a loss at Madison Square Garden; this time Curry got more contributions from his teammates and the Warriors played top-notch defense, holding the Knicks to their lowest point total of the season. Second-year guard Klay Thompson matched Curry's 9-of-18 from the field and scored 23 points, while David Lee dominated his old team in the frontcourt to the tune of 21 points, 10 rebounds and eight boards, just two short of what would've been a satisfying triple-double. Golden State, just 4-6 in their last ten games, badly needed the win according to Lee. ''We just needed a win, period. Not because we'd lost two in a row, just because at this point, every game becomes really important.''
While the shooting of Curry and Thompson usually is the story following Warriors' wins, Monday night was about suffocating defense that held Carmelo Anthony to 14 points on 4-of-15 shooting in his first game back after knee issued forced him to miss the last three contests. Warriors head coach Mark Jackson said ''That's a heck of a defensive night. It takes a combination of great defense and, at times, bad offense. I wish we could take all the credit.''
Knicks head coach Mike Woodson harped on the second part of Jackson's quote following the thrashing, saying "Our pace was way out in left field somewhere." The Knicks leading scorer was Chris Copeland off the bench, who scored 15 points in 19 minutes. Their usual bench scorer, J.R. Smith, failed to register a single point in the loss and was ejected in the third quarter for a Flagrant 2 foul against Golden State rookie Harrison Barnes.
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