NEW YORK — While Kevin Durant went through his pregame warmup at Madison Square Garden, fans stood several rows deep into the stands with their phones out recording every shot he took.
Many of them, if not all, are hoping that this time next year Durant's jersey says Knicks instead of Warriors.
Once the game began, Durant showed why they want him so badly.
The Knicks pushed the Warriors until the fourth quarter when Durant took over, scoring 25 of his 41 points to send Golden State to a 128-100 win over the Knicks on Friday night.
The Knicks led by three points to begin the final period but Golden State seemingly flipped a switch and ran away with the game.
Any chance of an upset victory quickly washed away.
The Warriors outscored the Knicks, 47-16, in the fourth quarter, with Durant providing much of the work.
When asked what went wrong, David Fizdale didn't have to search for an answer.
"Kevin Durant," Fizdale said. "And I saw our young guys. I just saw that look of, all right, we’ve done enough tonight. We played hard enough. I just got to get these guys to understand how to play 48 minutes. Right now we’re playing college ball: Forty."
Durant shot 17-of-24 from the field, including 5-of-9 from the perimeter for the game.
Stephen Curry shot 10-of-18 from the field and 6-of-11 from long distance to finish with 29 points, while Draymond Green had 18 points.
New starting five
Looking for a better defensive lineup, Fizdale shuffled his starting five. He dropped Trey Burke, Lance Thomas and Enes Kanter for Noah Vonleh, Mitchell Robinson and Damyean Dotson.
"I thought the starting lineup did a great job," Fizdale said. "They got us off to a really good start."
Ntilikina in particular had a strong game, scoring a career-high-tying 17 points on 6-of-11 shooting, including 3-of-7 from the perimeter.
"I think I did a lot of work this summer that allowed me to be more comfortable on the court," Ntilikina said. "So right now, I had a good game. So I know my goal is to be consistent wherever I’m at to be efficient and to give more options to the team."
Kanter, who had eight points and 13 rebounds in 20 minutes off the bench, did not seem pleased that he had lost his starting job.
When asked what his reaction was when Fizdale told him, the usually loquacious Kanter was short.
"Coach said he wants me to lead the second unit," Kanter said. "So I’m just leading the second unit."
Tim Hardaway Jr. had 24 points on 9-of-21 shooting, 4-of-12 from three-point range. Burke had 15 points off the bench.
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Playing a full 48
The Knicks are 1-5, but they pushed three of their top opponents — the Celtics, Bucks and now Warriors — deep into the game.
They just haven't been able to close out the game.
"For whatever reason right now we just don’t see ourselves as a team that should be competing and I’m trying to get that belief in them," Fizdale said. "But we’ve taken three really good teams pretty deep. I’m trying to get them to understand how to play a full game. And believe in yourselves."
A big reason for that is being a young team.
When more experienced teams have been making a late push, the Knicks have been losing their intensity.
"A lot of these guys haven’t been in the situation before," Hardaway said. "A lot of these guys are coming out of college where all you play is 40 minutes. They have to understand - we all have to understand - there’s eight more minutes of the game."
Email: iseman@northjersey.com
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