Second-half surge lifts Warriors over Knicks

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The Warriors -- without injured point guard Stephen Curry -- trailed the Knicks at halftime, but scored 55 points compared to New York's 35 in the second half to win 92-78 and improve to 2-1 on the young season.
Player of the game: Brandon Rush crammed a lot of activity into 26 minutes of playing time, scoring 19 points, grabbing six rebounds and playing tremendous defense on Carmelo Anthony.Key stretch: The Warriors held the Knicks to just six points through the first seven-plus minutes of the fourth quarter, one in which started with the teams even at 64-64. With the Knicks struggling to score, the Warriors took complete control of the game, bumping the lead to 16 points by the 4:20 mark of the period.This is going to be strange to hear, but we are a defensive team, Warriors coach Mark Jackson said. Yeah, its a shocker. Great players are going to come in and have great nights. But our job is to make it tough and not hold our heads down.
Curry sits: Warriors point guard Stephen Curry missed Wednesdays game because of a sprained right ankle. Curry has tweaked the ankle twice this seasononce in the final exhibition game on Dec. 20 and the other time on Monday against the Bulls.Said Warriors coach Mark Jackson before the game: Bottom line is he got hurt landing on somebody and we are going to give it some time to heal. We are a no-excuses basketball team so we look forward to executing our mission which is to play to our identity and take care of our homecourt.Ish Smith, who started for Curry, finished with 11 points, six rebounds and four assists in 29 minutes.Rushs role: Were only three games into the season but it looks as though Brandon Rush is ahead of rookie Klay Thompson in the rotation. Jackson said during the preseason that Thompson was going to get plenty of playing time and would likely be the first guard off the bench.But Rush already has carved out a consistent role in large part because of his defense and ability to spot-up from 3-point range. Most figured Thompson would struggle at the defensive end, but he also hasnt shot the ball well at all.Everybody is buying into what Coach Jackson is talking about, Rush said. Just giving maximum effort on the defensive endgetting stops and getting out and running.
Containing Anthony and Amare: The Warriors did a nice job defending Carmelo Anthony and Amare Stoudemire, keeping both guys under control at all times.Anthony finished with 13 points on 3-for-13 from the field and Stoudemire had 16 points on 5-for-14 from the field.

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