‘Warriors WrapUp’: Curry, Thompson make enough shots to put away Knicks 112-105; Warriors continue adjusting without Durant; Barnes gets the start; Atlanta next to end road trip

Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson entered Sunday’s game mired in shooting slumps. It’s not that they’re officially of those slumps now, but both made enough shots against the Knicks to lift the Warriors to a 112-105 victory Sunday afternoon at Madison Square Garden.

Curry had 31 points and Thompson 29, and between them the two went 9-for-22 from beyond the arc. We’ve seen those two combine to shoot much better than that over the years, but against the Knicks that was a marked improvement over what each had been doing. And it was good enough against the Knicks, a non-playoff team in the Eastern Conference. Enough said.

Link to “Warriors WrapUp,” the postgame show on 95.7-FM: Warriors at New York.

Curry had gone 4-for-31 from 3-point range (12.9 percent) over the past three games and Thompson had gone 7-for-33 from beyond the arc (21.2 percent). On Sunday, Curry made 5-for-13 from 3-point range and Thompson 4-for-9 from deep.

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Warriors’ season may come down to when Kevin Durant returns; Stephen Curry once again becomes No. 1 offensive option; late-game execution remains a concern

It’s all about the loss of Kevin Durant right now if you’re a Warriors fan — and the questions that come out of it.

How long exactly will Durant be out? Can the Warriors hold off the Spurs for the best record in the Western Conference and home-court advantage throughout the postseason? How much will Stephen Curry have to change his game from now until Durant returns? How many minutes can newly acquired Matt Barnes gobble up? Will Durant be the same player after he comes back?

The bottom line is that the Warriors’ season has changed in a big way, and it’s because Durant suffered at Grade 2 MCL sprain and tibial bone bruise in his left knee against the Wizards on Monday.

The Warriors have gone from the prohibitive favorite to … well, let’s wait and see.

On the “NBA This Week” we talked all aspects of the Warriors, and other NBA topics with Celtics analyst and former NBA assistant coach Brian Scalabrine and the Washington Post’s Tim Bontemps.

Link to Hour 1 of the “NBA This Week,” with Scalabrine interview.

Link to Hour 2 of the “NBA This Week,” with Bontemps interview.

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‘Warriors WrapUp’: Without Kevin Durant, Warriors beaten by Bulls 94-87; offense in shambles, particularly in crunch time; Curry, Thompson mired in big-time shooting slumps

Safe to say the Warriors are a little different without Kevin Durant. Playing their first game  minus Durant, who injured his left knee on Tuesday, the Warriors’ offense went missing, and they ended up losing to the Chicago Bulls 94-87 on Thursday.

The 87 points were a season-low for the Warriors, and it was just the third time this year they have failed to score 100 points. Plenty didn’t go right for the Warriors, and we talked about all of them afterward.

Link to “Warriors WrapUp,” the postgame show on 95.7-FM The Game.

The Warriors (50-11) have now lost consecutive games for the first time in 146 games, dating back to April 2015. For the third straight game, the Warriors couldn’t get anything going from 3-point range. They went 6-for-30 from beyond the arc (20 percent) and are now 20-for-87 (22.9 percent) from out there on their five-game road trip.

Stephen Curry went 2-for-11 from 3-point range and Klay Thompson went 1-for-11 from beyond the arc. Curry is 4-for-31 from 3-point range on this trip (12.9 percent) and Klay Thompson is 7-for-33 (21.2 percent) from there.

Why is Curry’s shooting percentage drastically down from last season? Why aren’t the Warriors shooting as well as a team from beyond the arc? More questions than usual right now.

The Warriors led 85-84 with three minutes left, but their offense went bone dry and then, topping it off, they couldn’t get a stop. After Jimmy Butler put the Bulls up one with a pair of foul shots, the Warriors would come completely unglued on offense in crunch time, which has been a periodic theme this season.

The Warriors went 1-for-8 from the field from that point on, including 0-for-5 from beyond the arc. Perhaps the worst 3-pointer of that stretch was provided by Curry, after Dwyane Wade’s bucket made it 88-85. Without making a pass, Curry came down and launched from distance early in the clock. The shot missed, Chicago got the rebound and proceeded to milk 20 seconds off the clock.

If there was one adjective to describe much of the first half — Golden State’s first one since finding out Durant would be out at least four weeks because of a left knee injury — it would be: uneventful.

Without Durant, the Warriors lacked offensive firepower and their ability to seemingly score by accident. They didn’t get out in transition like they normally do and they didn’t have anyone who was overly aggressive at the offensive end.

There was some thought that recently acquired Matt Barnes might be in the starting lineup for Durant. But once again, coach Steve Kerr went to rookie Patrick McCaw, who has  been getting starts when the injury bug strikes. It was McCaw’s fifth start, and it allowed the Warriors’ bench to stay intact.

Of primary concern to Kerr right now is to make sure his veterans — Andre Iguodala, Shaun Livingston and David West — are healthy come playoff time. To that end, Kerr doesn’t want to overtax his veterans with Durant’s lost minutes.

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