NEW YORK _ In an arena he has commonly erupted, Steph Curry used his favorite quarter to bust out of one of the worst shooting slumps of his career, leading a limping Warriors team past a bad Knicks squad, 112-105, on Sunday afternoon.
Following their first regular season two-game losing streak since April of 2015, it wasn't the most encouraging of Warrior performances. They looked sluggish much of the game, missed a batch of open 3s again and got very little offense from a struggling bench. But, because of the rediscovery of both Curry's and Klay Thompson's long-range shooting touch that two-game losing streak didn't extend to three.
Things didn't start well for Curry. He missed all four of his first quarter 3s, pushing him to an ugly 4-of-35 from deep in the first four games of this current road trip. But Curry chipped in elsewhere, drawing defenders and setting up some open Thompson looks, which he buried. Thompson had 14 in the first quarter, the Warriors led by nine, but Curry still looked discouraged by the extension of his shooting slump.
During a first half timeout, Steve Kerr _ wired up by the ABC broadcast _ was shown encouraging Curry, telling the star point guard to forget about the shooting woes and look at another column on the stat-sheet. Curry was a plus-nine in his 12 minutes.
"You're doing a lot of great stuff out there," he told Curry. "Carry on, my son."
Curry took his usual seat to start the second quarter and, during it, the Warriors hit a rough patch. Shaun Livingston went 0-of-4 in his 14 minutes, Patrick McCaw again looked hesitant to shoot and without the injured Kevin Durant and with little help from the veteran role players, the Warriors lead melted away. The Knicks led by one at halftime.
But right out of the break, a more confident-looking Curry came off a Zaza Pachulia screen on the second possession of the third quarter and buried a deep 3.
This season _ and throughout his career _ Curry has exploded in third quarters. At a needed time, he did it in Madison Square Garden on Sunday afternoon. Curry scored 15 points in the frame, closing it out with a pair of deep 3s and a spinning layup by 7-foot-3 Kristaps Porzingis.
It spiked the Warriors up eight to start the fourth quarter where, again without a resting Curry, they allowed the Knicks to come back. New York had it within three when Curry returned. But along with Thompson _ who nailed three big shots down the stretch and finished with 29 points _ Curry took over down the stretch, something they couldn't do in Chicago on Thursday.
With 1:09 left, Curry crossed over Carmelo Anthony and buried a dagger over his outstretched arms, bumping him up to 31 points (including 5-of-13 on 3s) to help them close out a needed win.
