Final score: Warriors use another 3rd quarter run to blowout the Knicks 125-111

Tonight’s game was the tale of two halves as the Golden State Warriors earned a 125-111 win over the New York Knicks.

Despite not being abled to be slowed down offensively, a lack of defensive intensity kept the Warriors from completely running away with this game early on.

But once the Dubs locked in, the Knicks could do very little to break the inertia as the game rolled into a blowout.

All offense early on

The Warriors offense was firing on all cylinders to start the game and the team had 15 assists that lead to 63 points on 54% shooting in the first half.

Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant, and Klay Thompson combined for 39 of those points

However even with the offense humming along, the Dubs still found themselves behind by 1 point at the half, as the defensive effort was nowhere to be found.

The Knicks were lead by Emmanuel Mudiay, who had 18 points, 3 three-pointers, and a nice assist for the bucket that gave the Knicks the lead at the buzzer.

The second half clamp

Then the wake up call came, and the Warriors made up for their lackadaisical first half effort by applying some shutdown defense in the third quarter.

Lead by Draymond Green, the Dubs were attentive and active all over, holding the Knicks to 18 points on 29% shooting.

The defense is what eventually blew the game wide open as the offense refused to slow down. And the Warriors used another third quarter blowout to secure some fourth quarter rest for the starters and another win in the race for the first seed in the Western Conference.

Durant vs Kanter

Durant’s arch-nemesis Enes Kanter had some early success, notching 10 points and 5 rebounds in the first half. But he would be held scoreless after halftime.

His attempts to get into Durant’s head also proved to be futile, as Durant ended up with 22 points, 9 rebounds, and 4 assists. This included a sequence of possessions in the second quarter where he went right at Kanter and Michael Beasley.

Curry Flurry

In the midst of the Warriors’ dominating third quarter, Curry lead the way with 13 points including a four-point play.

Curry would end the game with 21 points on 8-of-16 shooting, 4 three-pointers, 5 rebounds, and 5 assists.

Klay dropping dimes, dropping dimes

Thompson had an all-around terrific game that was a nice bounce-back from his off-night in the previous game against the Thunder.

He scored efficiently, ending with a game-leading 26 points on 9-of-13 shooting and 4 three-pointers.

But the nice surprise came in the fourth quarter when Thompson seemingly took over the team’s playmaking duties. He had a number of nice drive and kick plays, setting up David West and Andre Iguodala for a handful of easy buckets.

Welcoming Bell back

Jordan Bell made his return to the court after his long injury stint and although he had a relatively quiet box score, he was moving around really well and still had the same level of bounciness on a number of plays.

The bench rounding into form

After all the hoopla made around Iguodala’s decline this season, it appears he’s beginning to round into form which is great news for the Warriors.

He hit 2 three-pointers tonight and continued to look as fresh as he has all season.

Despite starting the game missing his first 4 shots, West would go 5-of-5 for the rest of the game to end with 11 points.

Next up

The next game on the Warriors’ road trip is against the Washington Wizards this Wednesday. Despite John Wall sitting out with injury, the Wizards have found some cohesion and have a 9-3 record since Wall went down.