Something special is happening here.
There haven’t been many shining moments for the Knicks against Stephen Curry since the Warriors pitched him in 2009.
But this turned into one on a Thursday night in San Francisco, when the Tom Thibodeau Knicks train rolled across California, claiming a record of .500.
The stars of the evening were RJ Barrett, with his career-high 28 points, and Julius Randle, who nearly posted a triple-double. No Curry.
“It’s a typical Thibs team,” said Warriors coach Steve Kerr beforehand. “Defending like crazy. They’re building a foundation.”
The Knicks continued to build a winning streak that is now three games after knocking out Curry in the second half and beating the Warriors in an exciting, wire-to-wire 119-104 win.
“I don’t think we consider ourselves underdogs,” Randle said. “We see ourselves as a good team. We have a lot of confidence in the team. ”
After scouring the Warriors’ new digs in San Francisco, Thibodeau paid tribute to Golden State and downplayed his team’s 8-8 score.
Before this four-game western trip began, Thibodeau said statistics showing the Knicks as the best defensive team in the league were not important. The Knicks coach said he just cared about wins, and now his team has three consecutive wins to hang on the trophy wall.
It was still not enough for Thibodeau to bask in the unexpectedly solid start of his team.
“We have a lot of work to do,” said Thibodeau. “We can’t feel good. There are things we’ve done well. We’ve had some good wins. We’ve also had games where we could have played much better. We have to be honest with ourselves and know that there is still a lot of work to be done, but we are improving and doing much better. ”
Curry has haunted the Knicks franchise forever. The Warriors mega-star came one slot away from sliding to eighth pick in ’09, where the Knicks waited with open arms.
All these years later, the Knicks and their defense finally found a night to enjoy against Curry.
For the first eight minutes of the game, Knicks point guard Elfrid Payton held Curry winless. Curry got hot, got 20 points at halftime, then kept him cold in the second half. He filled his stats up to 30 points in the fourth quarter elimination time, but shot only 5 of 14 of 3.
“A man like Curry, it is impossible to guard with one man,” said Thibodeau. ‘I thought Elfrid was doing the best he could. What you’re trying to do is make him work as hard as possible for everything. “
At the end of the third quarter, Curry coughed up the ball and Randle, who posted 16 points, 17 rebounds and nine assists, picked up the ball and started a fastbreak that ended Barrett for a 12-point lead.
Barrett may be streaky, but he’s on his most scintillating hot run of his career, pounding the Warriors with relentless rides and even banging 2 of the 3 marks off the 3-point line.
“He plays a great all-round game – he has a good mix of scoring and passing,” said Thibodeau.
Barrett’s fastbreak bucket came from Curry’s fourth sales – and that was the game. The Warriors scored 17 runs in that third quarter and trailed 89-76 in the latter period.
In the fourth quarter, Curry sat on the couch shaking his head. Either he wanted to get back in the game on the second night of a back-to-back or he couldn’t believe his team lost so badly to the Knicks,
The Warriors have the highest payroll in the league, the Knicks the lowest – $ 18 million below the salary cap. But the league’s growing defensive juggernaut kept crunching and got more central play from the tandem Mitchell Robinson and Nerlens Noel (four blocks).
The Knicks also got help from the referees. Draymond Green picked up an early technical – rightly so – but a second late in the first half that led to his ejection was an error by the referee. Green yelled at a teammate, not the referees. Heck, the Knicks get the breaks.
They may be top performers at 8-8, but their long-suffering customers watch this gritty team on TV. The Post has learned that the Knicks currently have 26 percent more viewership on MSG Network than last season.
You could see before the game that Kerr was concerned that the Warriors might take the Knicks lightly. He said he was concerned about the “energy and emotional” state of his team during the second leg from back-to-back and that they should rely on “fundamentals”.
For the third consecutive game, the Knicks had the energy and one more victory as the Thibodeau train dragged on. Next stop: Sacramento.