SAN FRANCISCO – New York Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau knew what the winning formula was – it was something as simple as having “a lot of fight, a lot of heart”.
On March 18, he was pleased as Jalen Brunson scored 34 points as the Knicks completed a wire-to-wire 119-112 National Basketball Association (NBA) road victory over the Golden State Warriors in San Francisco.
The Warriors, fresh from the high-scoring 128-121 win over the Los Angeles Lakers on March 16, were always on the back foot after New York sprinted to an early 20-6 first-quarter lead at the Chase Centre.
Point guard Brunson pulled the strings superbly to guide an injury-hit Knicks line-up to an impressive win that keeps them firmly on course for the play-offs.
“This team has demonstrated all year there’s a lot of fight, a lot of heart, a lot of toughness and a lot of togetherness to the group,” said Thibodeau, whose side are fourth in the Eastern Conference on 41-27.
“So there’s a belief that we can win. We always talk about our defence, our rebounding, taking care of the ball. I thought we shared the ball extremely well tonight.”
Brunson had scoring support from Miles McBride, who finished with a career-high 29 points in just his sixth NBA start.
“We keep finding ways to win,” Brunson said.
“Staying poised, staying confident – just sticking together.”
The loss was another body blow for the erratic Warriors, who are 17-18 at home this season.
Golden State occupy 10th place in the Western Conference – the last of the four play-in berths. Stephen Curry led his team’s scorers with 27 points.
“I don’t know what the answer is,” he said about their struggles at home. “If we did, we would be able to get ahead of it.”
Warriors coach Steve Kerr, however, had a clearer understanding of the problem watching from the sidelines.
“Just one of those nights where we didn’t really get anything going from that starting group,” he said.
“They’ve been really good but it just felt like, from the very beginning, we were swimming upstream.
“I think it was 15-4 out of the gate and we didn’t once have the lead in the game.
“We made a good comeback, but I just didn’t think we were disciplined enough throughout the game to earn the win.”
In Los Angeles, the Lakers bounced back from their loss to the Warriors with a 136-105 win over the Atlanta Hawks.
D’Angelo Russell drained six-of-10 from three-point distance to finish with 27 points, while LeBron James contributed 25 points and Anthony Davis added 22.
The Lakers are ninth in the West on 37-32.
In other games, the Cleveland Cavaliers fought back from a 15-point deficit to grind out a 108-103 victory over the Indiana Pacers in Indianapolis.
Jarrett Allen and Caris LeVert led the Cavs with 23 points apiece.
Cleveland improved to 43-25 with the win to remain in third place in the East behind the Boston Celtics (54-14) and Milwaukee Bucks (44-24).
The Celtics strolled to another routine victory in the 119-94 win over the Detroit Pistons at Boston’s TD Garden.
Jaylen Brown led the Boston scoring with 31 points, while Derrick White bagged the first triple-double of his career to finish with 22 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists.
In Salt Lake City, Anthony Edwards produced a monstrous dunk-of-the season contender as the Minnesota Timberwolves rallied to beat the Utah Jazz 114-104 on the road.
Edwards, who finished with 32 points, took flight in the third quarter, soaring over the 2.06m John Collins for a spectacular career highlight-reel moment.
“That’s the best dunk of my career, I’m not gonna lie,” he said after the win, which left Minnesota in second place in the West on 47-21, level with the Denver Nuggets and a half-game adrift of leaders Oklahoma City Thunder (47-20). AFP
