NBA.com

November 11, 2005

Davis Key as Warriors Keep Knicks Winless

OAKLAND, Calif., Nov. 11 (Ticker) -- Larry Brown's search for a win is nearly two weeks old.

Baron Davis found Adonal Foyle for the go-ahead basket in the final minute, added a free throw, then stripped Jamal Crawford in the closing seconds to help the Golden State Warriors post an 86-84 win over the New York Knicks, who are 0-5 for the first time in 18 years.

NBA TV highlights from Warriors-Knicks: Play The fourth-winningest coach in NBA history, Brown signed a multi-year contract this offseason to guide his hometown Knicks, who have struggled through four straight losing seasons.

Brown's team has been dismal down the stretch, losing once in overtime and twice to the Warriors in the last six days by a combined four points. Friday's setback may have been the most difficult for Brown to swallow.

"A tough loss," Brown said. "They made plays at the end and we didn't. We missed a wide open eight-footer, missed the ball a couple of times and they made great plays."

New York led, 27-17, after one quarter, took a one-point lead into the fourth and held that same margin when Crawford made a nice runner for an 84-83 lead with 66 seconds left.

Davis, who scored 11 of his 12 points after halftime and added 12 assists, shook a defender with a crossover dribble and found Foyle in the lane. The center spun before banking in a hook shot to put the Warriors on top with 48 seconds to go.

"I missed the other one before," said Foyle, who failed on a follow shot with just over four minutes left. "I knew Baron would keep coming and I didn't want him to take my head off (with the pass). We didn't want to be the first win (the Knicks) got, but they came out and played hard. They are a good team and have been playing everybody close."

Foyle hauled in Malik Rose's missed jumper on the other end, and Davis split a pair of free throws to make it 86-84 with 11 seconds remaining.

Brown elected not to call a timeout, and Crawford dribbled into the frontcourt before driving down the lane. Davis stepped in and got both hands on the ball to strip it away, and it caromed into the backcourt as time expired.

"I've learned from before not to take a jumper in that situation," Crawford said. "I thought I had a little pull-up, but then I saw a lane open up, so I tried to get one more dribble and get a layup or get fouled. We're this close all the time. It always comes down to one or two plays, and that's frustrating. But it also shows that we're not far away and we have to keep working."

Davis was off the ball on the play, guarding New York point guard Stephon Marbury, a threat to take a jumper if Crawford elected to pass out.

"I saw him off-balance going to the hole, pressing the issue," Davis said. "I just felt an opportunity to go after it. It was a gamble and something I like to do, especially down the stretch because he had a nice lane to the basket. I know he wasn't thinking about passing the ball, so I was able to strip the ball and we came up with the turnover at the end."

Davis struggled with foul trouble early but was the difference in the end.

"Baron attacks, gets people open," Brown said. "That was huge, but we had our chances. My hope is we keep trying to get better, figure out ways to get better. We've been in every game and haven't figured out how to win."

Jason Richardson scored eight of his 24 points in the fourth quarter for Golden State, which trailed by as many as 13 points. The Warriors held the Knicks to 22-of-56 shooting (39 percent) over the final three periods and have limited three of their last four opponents to fewer than 86 points.

"Our defense is really picking up right now," Richardson said. "We picked up our defensive intensity in the second half. We started making some shots, got some fast break points and we stopped them at the other end. We didn't care if they had won a game or hadn't, we just knew we had an opportunity to go out and win a game, and we did."

Troy Murphy added 19 points and 11 rebounds. His third 3-pointer put the Warriors ahead, 83-82, with 1:20 left. Marbury scored 10 of his 22 points in the first quarter and Crawford added 19 for the Knicks, who are 0-2 on a season-high six-game road trip.

Golden State has swept the season series from New York in three of the past four seasons.

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