Klay Thompson got hot in the second half as the Warriors pulled away from the Knicks for a 122-95 victory on Tuesday at Oracle Arena.
Klay Thompson had 43 points and the Dubs put an exclamation point on the first half of the season with a 122-95 victory over the Knicks on Tuesday night at Oracle Arena.
The win ended the Dubs’ three-game home losing streak, which matched the team’s longest such streak under the tenure of Head Coach Steve Kerr, and they did so behind the effort of the team’s All-Stars in action.
TEAM LEADERS
Thompson ended his night with four consecutive made shots in a span of just over two minutes in the fourth period, during which he knocked down his fifth, sixth and seventh 3-pointer of the game. Thompson scored 13 points in the third quarter and 13 more in the fourth as he finished 18-for-29 from the field and 7-for-16 from distance.
Stephen Curry logged his first double-double of the season with 14 points and 14 assists to go along with seven rebounds, and Draymond Green tallied also tallied a double-double with 11 rebounds and 10 assists. Kevin Durant tallied 24 points, six assists and two blocks, and in the process joined some elite company.
Those blocks gave Durant 900 for his career, and he becomes just the ninth player in NBA history to record at least 22,000 points, 5,000 rebounds, 3,000 assists and 900 blocks in their career, joining Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Karl Malone, LeBron James, Dirk Nowitzki, Shaquille O'Neal, Hakeem Olajuwon, Tim Duncan and Kevin Garnett.
Andre Iguodala added some highlight worthy dunks in his 23 minutes of game action, tallying seven points, three steals and two blocks while sporting a plus-11, the only Warriors reserve with a positive plus/minus rating.
After losing an 11-point lead in the first quarter, the Dubs closed out the first half with a 13-0 run, punctuated by a Thompson 3-pointer with three seconds left in the second quarter. The Warriors took a 12-point lead into the break and opened the game up with a 21-2 run in the third period that began with Curry getting three assists in less than a minute.
The Warriors enter the midpoint of the season with a 27-14 record after picking up their 10th straight win over the Knicks, completing the season sweep of New York for the fifth straight season.
The Dubs will look to complete another season sweep of an opponent on Friday when they close out their two-game homestand against the Bulls.
More notable moments from Tuesday's win:
- Golden State has won five-straight games versus New York at home (15 of the last 17 at Oracle Arena).
Golden State owns a record of 11-4 (.733) versus the Eastern Conference this season… Dating back to 2014-15, the Warriors are 111-23 (.828) overall versus the East, including 58-9 (.866) versus the conference at home. - The Warriors lead the Pacific Division and are currently in second place in the Western Conference, trailing Denver by 1 game.
- Golden State improves to 25-6 (.806) when making 10-or-more threes this season (made 14 tonight).
- The Warriors held their opponent to 99-or-fewer points for the fifth time this season (New York – 95) and own a record of 5-0 when accomplishing the feat (67-4 at home dating back to 2014-15 season).
- After shooting 51.0 percent in tonight’s game, the Warriors own a record of 15-1 (.938) when shooting 50.0 percent-or-better from the field this season (tonight marked their fifth consecutive game shooting 50 percent-or-better from the field; longest such streak of the season).
- Golden State recorded 36 assists and now have a record of 11-3 (.786) when dishing out 30-or-more assists this season.
- With tonight’s sellout crowd of Oracle Arena (19,596), the Warriors have extended their streak of consecutive sellouts to 313, the franchise’s all-time best streak… The 313-game streak marks the fourth longest active-sellout streak in the NBA.
- Klay Thompson's 18 made field goals tie a season high (18 at Chicago on October 29)… Warriors are now 12-0 all-time when Thompson scores 40-or-more points.
- Draymond Green recorded a team-high 11 rebounds (his 10th game this season with 10-or-more rebounds) and 10 assists, marking his fifth double-double of the season (second rebound-assist).
- Kevin Durant tallied 24 points, his 14th consecutive outing of 20-or-more points, tying his longest streak of games scoring 20-plus as a member of the Warriors (that streak also came earlier this season.