© Wendell Cruz-USA TODAY Sports
The Warriors love their trips to New York. After Kevin Durant went off for 41 points, including 25 in the fourth quarter against the team courting him this offseason in the Knicks, the Warriors got a two-day break before moving to Brooklyn for another win against a young team.
Golden State beat the the Nets 120-114 to improve their already West-leading record. It’s an unsurprising start for a championship-defending team that looks like its having about much fun as it ever has, but their performance late in the game today was concerning and allowed a team that had no business winning the game to come back to within two points very late.
Here are five takeaways from this afternoon’s game:
What do you mean, “close game?”
Early in the second quarter, the Nets trailed the Warriors just 34-31. Then, Kevin Durant and Steph Curry started scoring and moving the ball and the close game quickly turned for the Warriors. Offensive boards, steals and that classic ever-flowing passing style from the Warriors pushed them to a 63-49 halftime lead.
Still, the young Nets held in there and gave the Warriors a genuine challenge that they’ve so far only really seen in their loss to the Nuggets. Spurred on by 20-made threes, including 7 in the fourth quarter – and three-straight missed shots from Draymond Green – the Nets closed the gap to 110-108 with 2 minutes to go.
Being the best team in the world, the Warriors weathered the storm and won, but it was a little concerning to see defensively. You can be sure Kerr will make that a focus in practice.
Steph Curry, something something broken records
Steph Curry might have the record for most broken records. You’ve seen what he does with a basketball; it’s almost an insult to normal humans, but it’s a pleasure to watch.
Tonight Curry scored 35 points, had 7 rebounds, 3 steals and 7 threes. He has scored at least 29 points in each of the first seven NBA games and became the first-ever NBA player to score five or more threes in seven-plus games in a row.
Stephen Curry has a new NBA record, hitting at least five three-pointers for the seventh-straight game. The previous record of six-straight games with at least five threes was set by George McCloud during the 1995-96 season.
— Warriors PR (@WarriorsPR) October 28, 2018
There aren’t enough superlatives in the world to describe how good Curry is and has been to start this season. All you can do is watch and marvel at him.
Dubs, Dubs, Dubs – even while Klay struggles from deep
The Warriors (6-1) own the best record in the Western Conference, and they’re beating up on the teams that they should. Curry is playing at an MVP early, with Durant not far behind – Durant, by the way, dropped 34 points, 8 rebounds and 6 assists tonight.
Draymond Green is dishing the ball around like the elite point forward he is while locking things down defensively, and Damian Jones has been somewhat of a revelation as the starting center. The only thing that’s missing is Klay Thompson.
For some reason, Thompson just can’t seem to get going from three. He did play well tonight from midrange, however, where his shot looked smooth. He finished 8-of-17 from the field with 18 points.
Still, he’s just 5-of-36 (0.139) from three on the year, and is averaging just 15.14 points per game with a .396 field goal percentage in total. It seems inevitable that Thompson will eventually start hitting his shots from deep, but his slump has been disappointing. It does represent just how good the Warriors are that they’ve started off hot without one of their three biggest weapons playing well.
McKinnie’s role keeps growing
At the start of the summer, Alfonzo McKinnie was playing in a 3-on-3 league and didn’t know if he had a future in the NBA. He’d played just a handful of games in limited minutes for the Toronto Raptors last year. This afternoon, McKinnie entered the game early in the second quarter. He played 17 minutes and finished with 9 points, 5 rebounds, a steal and a block for the back-to-back champion Golden State Warriors.
Kerith Burke for NBC Sports Bay Area interviewed McKinnie at the end of the first half and asked him how he’s been able to settle into his increased role.
“Just coming in everyday and being myself,” McKinnie said. “Just trying to do whatever it is that coach Kerr and the other guys want me to do.”
Burke followed up later in the game with Steve Kerr to ask him about McKinnie.
“Zo is fearless, long and athletic and he’s a good rebounder,” Kerr said, also commending his intelligence and willingness to shoot.
In one stretch at the end of the third quarter, McKinnie hit a three with pressure in his face. Then, he came back down and missed another three, but flew in after a missed three by Jonas Jerebko, catching the offensive rebound midair to put it in for a layup.
New York shouldn’t stop inviting the Warriors to town – but their teams keep losing
No one has enjoyed playing the Warriors in recent years, but that’s especially true for the Knicks and Nets. The Warriors are now 5-2 in Brooklyn and 6-1 in Madison Square Garden since 2012-13. The last losses came in Brooklyn in 2014-15 and Madison Square Garden in 2012-13.
The Nets haven’t had a winning record since 2013-14 and the Knicks haven’t had a winning record since 2012-13, when they won the Atlantic Division. They’re a pair of tortured franchises, and playing the Warriors certainly doesn’t ease their sorrows.
Still, the games between the Warriors and Knicks and Nets are almost always entertaining. Despite the lopsided records, they’re always worth watching.
