Preview
Warriors Look to Break Cold Streak in New York
Oakland is on their first back-to-back losing stretch since 2015. Will it continue versus the Knicks? Probably not.
Stephen Curry is 4-of-31 from the three-point line over his last three games. Klay Thompson? 7-for-33. The Splash Brothers have gone ice cold, and the Warriors have lost two in a row for the first time since 2015. They’ll visit the lowly Knicks today at 3:30 pm EST to reverse their fortunes.
The Warriors are still heavy favorites against the Knicks, even with their vaunted backcourt chucking bricks at the rim. But they’ll be without superstar Kevin Durant, who suffered a knee sprain last Tuesday after teammate Zaza Pachulia fell backwards onto Durant’s knee.
Durant’s MCL sprain isn’t as grave as some initially thought, as higlighted here on the NBA subreddit by a Sports Medicine MD redditor:
Because [the MCL] is a broad ligament and superficial, [it] tends to scar down well, and we can expect [Durant] to return without instability or long-term performance decrease. The fact that it is a Grade II is, in my opinion, better than a Grade I because there is more of an inflammatory response aiding [the healing process].
Still, Durant is the backbone of Golden State’s schemes on both side of the ball. The threat of his off-ball movement opens up their shooters, and when the game slows down Durant is one of the best bucket-getters in the league. His defense this season was inching closer to the peak level he achieved in last year’s Western Conference Finals against, irony alert, Golden State, when Durant was a swarming, rim-protecting, Slenderman-esque defender. The Warriors will have to figure out how to play without him again. Luckily, they still have Curry, Draymond Green, and Thompson. No other team has that luxury to fall back on.
If the Knicks are to win against the Warriors, a few things have to happen.
- Golden State has to turn the ball over. A lot. Which isn’t unreasonable, considering they’re in the bottom-10 in turnovers per game, and they just lost a core part of their offense in Durant. Unfortunately, the Knicks rank in the bottom-10 in steals per game but actually rank second in blocks.
- Carmelo Anthony has to shoot well. He’s coming off a 5-of-18 night against Philadelphia on Friday, a 105–102 loss, but he’s actually on a tear right now. Even including last night’s stinker, Anthony is averaging 25.8 points over his last 10 games on 45.7 percent shooting.
- Kristaps Porzingis has to hit threes. Although The Unicorn is hitting 37.3 percent of his shots from deep this season, he’s just 2-for-9 over his last two contests. The Knicks will need someone to match Golden State’s penchant for hot streaks, and there’s not a lot of outside shooters on the roster aside from Porzingis and Anthony-on-a-good-night.
- Willy Hernangómez has to throw some ‘bows. Well, maybe not anything that’ll get him tossed, but he has to make it physical against Golden State’s weak frontcourt. Hernangómez is almost averaging a double-double over his last eight games, putting up 9.4 points and 9.3 rebounds over that stretch. He was listed as doubtful before this game, but he’s not on the injury report, so if he plays he could be a major X-factor for the Knicks.
Tip-off is at 3:30 pm EST at Madison Square Garden.
— Harrison Liao, site writer
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