The Golden State Warriors (GSW) won on Tuesday night at Madison Square Garden in New York to the Knicks 96-105 in a game that was dominated by two 3s by Stephen Curry that allowed him to become the NBA’s leader in 3s made by surpassing Ray Allen’s previous record of 2,973. Curry finished the game with 5 3-pointers of 14 attempts which puts him with a total of 2,977 shots of three in his entire career. But the most important came 4.30 minutes after kickoff when Curry overcame Alec Burks’s opposition from the right side of the three-line. It was his second triple of the game and with which he finally broke the record set by Ray Allen, who retired in 2014.
Testimony of Curry’s quality and, above all, of how the NBA game has changed in recent years, the Warriors point guard has surpassed Allen’s number in 789 games. It took Ray Allen 1,300 to hit 2,973 3s and Reggie Miller, the NBA’s third-highest 3-pointer, 1,389 games to make 2,560. Curry scored his first NBA triple on October 30, 2009.
The top scorer of the game was the Knicks power forward Julius Randle who had 31 points, 25 in the second half, 7 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 steals. In the Warriors, Curry was the leader in points, with 22, in addition to 3 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 steal and 1 block. Curry scored 5 of the 14 3-pointers he tried.
Despite the difference between GSW, leaders of the Western Conference, and the Knicks, in 12th place in the Eastern Conference, and that the New York team has several low players – Obi Toppin and RJ Barrett are out of the alignment by the NBA’s covid-19 protocols – New Yorkers did not make it easy for Californians.
Historic triple
During the first quarter, the two teams were distracted by Curry’s attempt to break the record Allen. Curry tried to shake off the load and air the two triples he needed quickly. It took him a few more minutes than expected but with 7.33 minutes to go in the first quarter, the GSW point guard did it. The triple not only secured the record for Curry but also put the Warriors ahead at 10-12.
Those two triples were Curry’s only points in the first quarter. The Knicks had come to contain the shooter and they had succeeded. When the first 12 minutes were up, the scoreboard indicated a tie 24-24 with 10 points to the credit of the point guard of the New York, Derrick Rose. In the second quarter, the Knicks kept up the defensive pressure, leaving the Warriors with just 28.6% shooting from the 3-point line, an unusually low figure for the team. And at the same time, the Knicks bench showed greater accuracy on 3-pointers. Immanuel Quickley, Kevin Knox II and Miles McBride, the latter with 2 3s of 2 attempts, made a total of 4 shots of three, which left the Knicks’ shooting percentage in the second quarter at 50%.
The Warriors recover
Those of New York got to go of 8 points, 46-38, in the absence of 4.26 for the rest. But in the final minutes, GSW scored a 2-9 run by Draymond Green and Kevon Looney, which left the score at half time at 48-47.
Coming back from the locker room, the Knicks held off the Californians’ push but in the last five minutes of the third quarter, the Warriors hit the gas with Andrew Wiggings and Curry as spearheads. In the last 2 minutes of the third quarter, GSW imposed a 3-8 run that put a 64-71 It was starting to seem definitive. The Knicks had only been able to score 16 points in the entire period, 8 less than the Warriors, and 12 of them from Julius Randle.
The fourth quarter was more balanced, thanks again to Randle’s performance for the Knicks, who had 13 points in the final 12 minutes. But it was not enough and the Warriors took the game 96-105 and the title of NBA’s top 3-point man for Curry.