RJ Barrett recorded a career-best with 28 points and the New York Knicks used a 40-point first quarter to build a lead they relinquished only momentarily in a 119-104 victory over the Golden State Warriors in San Francisco on Thursday night, January 21 (Friday, January 22, Philippine time).
All 5 Knicks starters scored in double figures, including Mitchell Robinson with 18 points and Julius Randle with 16 points, as New York opened a four-game Western swing with an impressive win.
Stephen Curry had a game-high 30 points, but shot just 5-for-14 on three-pointers for the Warriors, who were coming off back-to-back wins over the Los Angeles Lakers and San Antonio Spurs over the previous 3 days.
Reggie Bullock hit 4 three-pointers for New York, including 3 in the first 5 minutes as the Knicks were opening the game on an 18-8 run.
Seeking a third straight win, the visitors went up by as many as 11 in the opening period and were caught just once the rest of the night, that coming at 55-all after a pair of Curry free throws with 2:01 remaining in the half.
But Elfrid Payton contributed a three-pointer to an 8-2, half-closing run that reestablished a six-point advantage, and the Warriors fought an unsuccessful uphill battle the rest of the night.
Barrett’s 28 points were one more than he scored on two occasions as a rookie last season. He shot 10-for-17 overall and 2-for-3 on three-pointers.
Payton finished with 15 points, Bullock had 12 points, all on three-pointers, and Alec Burks chipped in with 11 for New York, which logged its second-largest point total of the season. The Knicks exploded for 130 points in a 20-point win over Milwaukee last month.
Randle was the game’s top rebounder with 17, missing a triple-double by one assist. Nerlens Noel added 11 rebounds to complement 6 points and 4 blocks off the bench.
Andrew Wiggins had 17 points to go with a team-high 9 rebounds, while James Wiseman totaled 15 points and Eric Paschall 12 for the Warriors, who lost Draymond Green to a two-technical ejection in the 2nd quarter.
The Knicks outshot the Warriors 46.3% to 38.4 overall and 45.8% to 23.7 on three-pointers.
Green’s ejection occurred during a foul-marred first half in which 48 free throws were shot. New York led 63-57 at the break, the result of having made 21-of-27 free throws, while the Warriors were 15-for-21. – Rappler.com
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