Kevin Durant scores 41 points as Golden State Warriors beat New York Knicks
Tuesday 30 October 2018 05:26, UK
Kevin Durant scored 25 of his game-high 41 points in the fourth quarter as the Golden State Warriors completed a furious rally to beat the New York Knicks 128-100.
The Warriors (5-1), the defending NBA champions, have won five of six games to open the season.
Stephen Curry scored 29 points for Golden State while Draymond Green (18 points) and Klay Thompson (12 points) also scored in double digits.
The Knicks (1-5) have lost five straight since a season-opening win, though they have fallen to contenders such as Golden State, the Boston Celtics and the Milwaukee Bucks.
Tim Hardaway Jr led New York with 24 points while Frank Ntilikina had 17 points. Trey Burke added 15 points and Damyean Dotson finished with 12 points.
The Knicks gave the Warriors all they could handle for most of Friday night.
The two teams were tied at the end of the first quarter (25-25) and at half-time (53-53) before New York opened up a 10-point lead on Hardaway's three-pointer with 1:51 left in the third quarter.
But Kevon Looney scored the next five points for the Warriors. Burke drained a three-pointer to extend the Knicks' lead back to eight points before Golden State scored the final five points of the quarter to pull within 84-81.
Burke (seven points) and Durant (eight points) traded buckets in the first three minutes of the fourth quarter before the Warriors ran away over the final nine minutes. Green's layup with 8:41 left created the final tie at 91-all and Durant, who didn't score in the third quarter, put Golden State ahead with a layup with 8:15 to go.
The baskets by Green and Durant began the closing 42-9 edge for the Warriors.
Durant scored 21 of those points. The dagger baskets were consecutive three-pointers by Green and Alfonzo McKennie that extended Golden State's lead to 112-96 with 3:59 remaining.
In the first half, Warriors center DeMarcus Cousins was ejected for arguing with an official from the bench. Cousins, signed as a free agent in the offseason, has not played in a game and is expected to be out until at least January.
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