Game Preview: New York Knicks vs Golden State Warriors, February 29, 2024

January 27th, 2024. New York had just beaten their rivals, Miami Heat, by 16, to push their winning streak to six games and improve to 29-17 on the season. They did lose Julius Randle to a shoulder injury late in the fourth quarter, but there was confidence that with Jalen Brunson playing at an All-NBA level, OG Anunoby finding his groove offensively, and Isaiah Hartenstein looking like a Defensive Player of the Year candidate, the team would be able to continue playing great and stay in the hunt for the third, or possibly even the second, seed. There was obviously a lot of concern about how quickly Randle could return, but many fans still felt confident and positive about how the team was playing.

Later that night, the Golden State Warriors, who had just lost to the Sacramento Kings by one point two nights earlier, dropped another nailbiter in double overtime to the Los Angeles Lakers. Back-to-back heartbreaking losses to division rivals by a combined two points left a sour mouth in the taste of the Warriors and their fans as they were now 19-24, struggling to even stay .500. Questions about Steve Kerr’s rotation, and concerns surrounding Klay Thompson were voiced often and the vibes surrounding the Warriors were quite bad.

But since then, these two teams have, in a way, swapped positions. The 35-24 fourth-place Knicks are still better on the season and are in a much more enviable position in the standings than the 30-27 10th-place Warriors, but over the last couple of weeks, it has been the Warriors, that have been playing solid basketball, picking up wins, and feeling good about themselves. They’ve been assisted by a bit of a lighter schedule, playing the Nets, Jazz (twice), and Wizards over their last 11 games, but they can only play who is on their schedule, and they’ve taken care of business. Golden State comes into tonight’s matchup having won eight of their last 10 games, and with a win and a Lakers loss, they could end the night in sole possession of ninth place.

Meanwhile, the Knicks have been sputtering for much of February, struggling to stay healthy and develop any kind of consistency. Fans did get a reprieve from all of the frustrations that had been building up when they got to see the aforementioned Brunson play in the All-Star break, but besides that, there’s been much more head-scratching, and hair-pulling as of late. The team is currently just 3-7 in their last 10 games and the Knicks, who are currently underdogs in tonight’s matchup, could be looking at a 4-8 month of February as they may be without Brunson again tonight.

Prediction

With or without Brunson, the Warriors should have the upper hand. The Knicks continue to be a very bad defensive team, and their offense, outside of Brunson and the occasional hot stretches Donte DiVincenzo and Bojan Bogdanovic have, remains predictable and uncreative. Golden State is by no means unbeatable, but they do rank sixth and fifth in offensive rating and defensive rating in February and they are no longer just a one-man show. They’re of course led by Steph Curry, who, despite averaging just 17.7PPG over his last three games, is averaging 27.5PPG and 5.4APG during February. But they’ve also gotten some good contributions from the duo of Jonathan Kuminga and Klay Thompson as of late. The former is averaging 17.5PPG on 53% shooting over his last 13 games, and the latter, despite struggling earlier in the season, has found a bit of a rhythm recently, averaging 19.6PPG while shooting 47.2% from the field and 40% from three over his last seven games. The Warriors should be able to ride what has been a great defense and a balanced scoring attack to beat the Knicks 122-108.

Game Details

Who: New York Knicks vs Golden State Warriors

When: 7:30 pm EST, Thursday, February 29, 2024

Where: Madison Square Garden, Manhattan, NY

Watch: MSG Network, TNT

Follow: @ptknicksblog