Two positives, two negatives from Warriors 28-point win over Knicks at MSG

And in the sixth game, for the first time this season, the lethargy was visible. Playing the unthreatening Knicks, the Warriors failed to summon their usual velocity and found themselves in more of a fight than they might have imagined.

They prevailed, 128-100, but only because they snapped awake in the fourth quarter and hitched themselves to Kevin Durant.

Here are two positives and two negatives culled from a win that was much closer than the score indicates:

POSITIVES

Durant excels in the role of closer

For a full three quarters, Durant was ordinary by his standard. He was efficient, scoring 16 points on 7-of-11 shooting. He also had six rebounds and three assists.

Trailing 84-81 entering the fourth quarter, the Warriors needed a little more from everybody. Durant decided he would deliver all that was necessary, personally outscoring the Knicks, 25-16. He was the catalyst in a 47-point final quarter, pulling the Warriors out of a deficit and into a rout.

“He’s special,” Knicks coach David Fizdale said. “I don’t have to describe it for you to understand what you just saw. There’s only one guy, maybe, in the world that does that at that level. The shots that he makes, the places he can get, it’s special.”

When Durant finally took a seat, with 41 points and 2:04 remaining, the Warriors had a 21-point lead. His teammates were energized, the Knicks were vanquished and Madison Square Garden was buzzing in admiration.

Stephen Curry has proved that he is an excellent closer. Durant showed, once again, that he also knows how to put away an opponent.

The 3-balls were contagious

Curry led the team in 3-point makes, as he has for every game this season. But his teammates achieved something they previously had not.

They combined to make more triples than Curry did, and shot them nearly as well.

While Curry was 6-of-11 from beyond the arc, the rest of the Warriors were 10-of-22. In addition to Durant going 5-of-9, Draymond Green was 2-of-3, Jonas Jerebko was 2-of-4 and Alfonzo McKinnie made his only attempt from beyond the arc.

The Warriors in the second half were 11-of-19 from deep, so maybe it’s the beginning of a trend. They’re not going to shot 57.9 percent -- or even 45.5 percent, as they did for the game -- but this is a giant leap forward.

The Warriors, Curry aside, shot 25.0 percent beyond the arc in the first five games.

NEGATIVES

Relapsing into an old habit

The Warriors last season practically trademarked the comeback win. They would start slow in the first half and then, after halftime, play as if the outcome mattered. Sometimes it was enough; they were 18-14 in games during which they trailed entering the third quarter.

They were tied with the Knicks at the half and trailed them, 84-81, after three quarters before finding the urgency to thrash them, 47-16, in the fourth quarter.

That was enough to completely overcome a deficit of 10 points inside the final two minutes of the third quarter.

“We win a lot of games just because we have more talent than the other team,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said. “But what’s going to win us games at the highest level is both, talent and playing together, competing and playing hard. We didn’t have that tonight for most of three quarters.

“It’s a dangerous game to play sometimes, because guys aren’t always going to make shots. But we’ve got to be able to put together a better effort, especially on the road, and be more engaged early in the game.”

Thompson’s search continues

Even as 3-balls were falling for so many of his teammates, Klay Thompson continued to struggle with his long-distance shooting.

He was 4-of-27 (14.8 percent) from deep entering the game. He’s now 4-of-31 (12.9 percent) after missing all four of his attempts against the Knicks.

And most were fairly clean looks. As in many of his misses in previous games, Thompson was either short or wide. When it’s short, it’s usually a matter of slightly adjusting his mechanics. When it’s wide, that’s indicative of not being locked in.

Like all great shooters, Thompson has his share of slumps. This one, however, is more prolonged than most. His confidence is unshakable, but how long will that be the case if the shots he usually makes don’t start falling.