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Warriors' offensive explosion hands Knicks fifth straight loss

Feb 11, 2009 - 7:22 AM OAKLAND, California (Ticker) -- Al Harrington got exactly what he asked for and the Golden State Warriors are not lamenting his loss.

Stephen Jackson led eight players in double figures with 35 points as the Warriors claimed a 144-127 victory over the New York Knicks on Tuesday.

"Well, that's called a shootout - old-fashioned shootout," Warriors coach Don Nelson said. "Kind of fun actually when you win, had one at (Madison Square Garden) as well, but that wasn't as much fun."

After requesting a trade at the start of the season, Harrington was acquired by the Knicks from Golden State for Jamal Crawford on November 21.

Determined to stick it to his former team, the 28-year old forward collected 36 points and 12 rebounds in the first meeting against the Warriors - a 138-125 victory on November 29.

Harrington appeared to be seeking further retribution in front of his former home crowd.

After falling behind by as many as 15 points in the first quarter, the 10-year veteran helped New York forge a 65-65 tie at halftime by scoring 22 points on 8-of-14 shooting, including four 3-pointers in the opening 24 minutes.

"A loss is a loss, we're trying to make the playoffs," Harrington said. "It wasn't me vs. Golden State, it was the Knicks vs. Golden State, and we lost the game and we just got to find a way to win tomorrow night."

However, Harrington's production came to a screeching halt in the second half as the Warriors slowly built an insurmountable lead en route to their second straight win.

"Jack (Jackson) really shutdown Al, who was having a monster game in the first half," Nelson said. "The whole team played together and followed the game plan, wasn't as successful as I wanted defensively, but it was good enough."

The Knicks' forward opened the third with a layup to put his team on top, but it would be his only basket in the second half, finishing the game 9-of-20 from the floor.

"Stephen Jackson wouldn't leave me and then when I drove to the hole, the refs, to me, weren't calling the fouls," Harrington said. "It was tough. I didn't get to the line and, when you have somebody taking your jump shots away - that's what happened to me offensively."

Crawford scored 10 of his 21 points in the third as Golden State recorded 40 during the session to take a 105-95 lead into the fourth.

The Warriors sealed the win with an 8-2 run to start the final period, but they were not done scoring despite wrapping up the decision.

When the dust settled, Golden State finished with a season high in points and recorded the highest output in the NBA this campaign.

"I think we're getting better," Crawford said. "I'm not sure we're going to score 144 every single night but we're getting better, we're developing chemistry, we're seeing what works for us, trying to help each other on defense and see what happens."

The 144 points was also the most scored against New York in regulation since November 15, 1990, as the team endured its fifth straight loss.

"I think we can win every game, but we knew that Portland and Golden State are playing well right now," Knicks coach Mike D'Antoni said.

"I'm not ready to throw anybody under the bus. I just thought physically we got outmanned. I thought we had a lot of guys limping and not able to go and then they were really good and to guard this team you have to be like greyhounds and we weren't."