Stephen Curry celebrated his 37th birthday on Friday, one day after burying his 4,000th career 3-pointer as part of a 130-104 home romp over the Sacramento Kings.
Curry begins his quest for 5,000 career 3-pointers when the Golden State Warriors (38-28) entertain the New York Knicks (42-23) on Saturday night in San Francisco.
Curry contributed just 11 points to Thursday’s win, but he helped spread the wealth with five assists. Seven other Warriors scored in double figures, including Jonathan Kuminga, who had 18 points in 20 minutes in his return from a 31-game absence due to a sprained right ankle.
Warriors coach Steve Kerr noted the Curry-Kuminga connection afterward.
“What you notice is just the different dimension he gives us with his explosion to the rim,” Kerr said. “The way teams are playing Steph … everybody now is just top-locking him. It completely distorts the defense and it makes sense because you’re trying to take away Steph. But then you don’t have help in certain areas.
“So if you have a guy like JK who can attack and score at the rim, it’s a huge help.”
The Warriors improved to 13-2 since acquiring Jimmy Butler from the Miami Heat last month. One of those wins came in New York on March 4, when Curry hit five 3-pointers to account for a majority of his 28 points in a 114-102 victory.
That was Golden State’s second of what now has become six straight wins. They have opened an eight-game homestand with victories over the Detroit Pistons, Portland Trail Blazers and Kings by a total of 41 points.
Meanwhile, the Knicks have split four games since Golden State’s visit, all on a five-game Western swing that ends Saturday. They dropped a pair in Los Angeles to the Lakers and the Clippers, before rebounding with wins over the Kings and Trail Blazers.
Coincidentally, their win at Sacramento on Monday came by an almost identical score (133-104) as the Warriors’ home triumph over the Kings three days later.
The last time they saw the Warriors, the Knicks were without Karl-Anthony Towns, but did have star guard Jalen Brunson in the lineup.
Brunson has since sprained his right ankle, while Towns has returned from a personal day off to contribute double-doubles to the losses in Los Angeles before 26 and 21 points in the wins at Sacramento and Portland, respectively.
All five Knicks starters have scored in double figures in the last two wins, including Miles McBride, who had 21 and 11 points in just his third and fourth starts of the season. McBride had four steals and two blocked shots against the Trail Blazers.
Towns believes the winning streak is no coincidence as the team gets better acquainted to temporary life without Brunson.
“It’s good when you could go out there and show a great version of (our)selves,” Towns said. “(We) just continue to put the building blocks together.”
–Field Level Media
