Good news for the Warriors. They have no one listed on the injury report tonight, which means they can go back to the starting five that’s been working so well for them since the All-Star Break. Podziemski gets the knod as Thompson will come off the bench, and Kuminga will be looking for his fifth straight game over 20 points, with Wiggins, Curry and Green joining him in the starting five.
Anthony Randle is still healing a dislocated shoulder, but should be returning before the end of the regular season. Until then the Knicks have Brunson and Hart with McBride, DiVincenzo and Hartenstein starting for them tonight and most nights.
NBA Standings
Taking a look at the standings in the East and the West, we see these two teams need a win tonight for very different reasons. The Knicks are currently in 4th place in the East, and while their chances of a one seed are slim to none, they do have a chance to catch up to the 2nd and 3rd placed teams. They are sitting two games back of the Cavs and 3.5 games back of the Bucks for the second seed in the East. The Warriors are in a much more dire situation coming into tonight. With their win in LA over the weekend they are now in 9th in the West, but are three games behind the Kings, Mavericks and Suns who are all 8.5 games back of the conference leading OKC Thunder. Right now the Kings are in 6th, holding on to the final automatic playoff spot, while the rest of the pack will trying to knock them into the 7-10 seeds before the end of the regular season.
Steph fully recovered from ankle injury
If the Lakers-Warriors game showed us anything over the weekend, it’s that LeBron and Steph are still two of the top stars in this league. They have been the biggest studs in the league nearly two decades, but they aren’t ready to pass the torch just yet. Steph’s ankle injury sounded alarms in the Bay, but luckily for the Warriors is was a minor sprain that only kept him out for a week. Without the league’s best three point shooter ever, Golden State would have no hopes in getting out of Play-In position, and would most likely crash out of the the tournament before reaching the playoffs. The Warriors know their playoff destiny rests on the shoulders of their star, so keeping him healthy is going to be a priority going into the final stretch of the season.
Big Apple Brunson
We knew Jalen Brunson was a stud even in Dallas where he was overshadowed by Luka Doncic for most of his stint as a Maverick. On the rare occasion that Luka had to sit, Brunson would step up and show his ability to carry a team on his shoulders. In New York he is the guy, and has exceeded the expectations of a the often much too demanding Knicks fans. Scoring 40 in back to back games on the road is no easy task, but now the former Villanova Wildcat knows it’s going to take a lot more of those kinds of performances if the Knicks are going to continue to climb up the Eastern Conference.
Warriors last game
The Warriors went into LA needing a win and came out with a victory despite and endless delay to the game in the final few moments of the fourth quarter. Steph Curry made his much awaited return after missing three games with an ankle injury. LeBron James led all scorers with 40 points, but Steph led his side to victory scoring 31 points as both players proved they are still two of the top talents in the game. Each side had their share of the lead for the first two quarters, and it wasn’t until the Warriors went up 12 in the fourth quarter that the lead stretched to double digits. After a lengthy delay due to shot clock problems and reviews the Warriors walked out of LA with a much needed win against a direct rival in the Play-In race.
Knicks last game
For the second straight game, Jalen Brunson post 40+ points as the Knicks rattled off their third straight win. Brunson and New York went into Sacramento and beat a good Kings team that is battling to stay out of Play-In position. Brunson became just the fourth Knicks player to post back to back 40 point games but it was the defense that came up big on the road. They limited the Kings to just 35% shooting and held Sacramento to just 17 fourth quarter points while shutting them out in the final 2:30 of the game.
We are live from Chase Center
Hello everyone and welcome to the Bay where the Golden State Warriors return home needing a win after losing four of their last seven games. They got Steph Curry back from an ankle injury over the weekend in LA and he led them to a much needed win, and he is going to need to do the same tonight against a Knicks team that is on a three game win streak, and on a quest to move up the standings in the East. Tonight they look to knock off the Warriors before heading to Denver to take on the defending champions to wrap up their west coast road swing.
Knicks vs. Warriors
East meets west tonight in San Francisco as two teams looking to better their playoff positions with less than a month to go in the regular season. The Golden State Warriors are back home looking to straighten the ship tonight against a New York Knicks team that have their eye on home court advantage in the first round of the Eastern Conference playoffs. AS English will be with you all night providing live coverage, stats, highlights and analysis of tonight’s game from Chase Center.