NBA Game Preview - New York at Golden State

Wed Dec 11, 2019 10:30 PM EST

A duel between the NBA's two losingest teams is sure to produce a winner when the New York Knicks visit the Golden State Warriors on Wednesday night.

The matchup is the first of the season in a Warriors-Knicks rivalry that has been as one-sided as any in the NBA the past five years.

Not only has Golden State won all 10 meetings since Steve Kerr took over as coach at the start of the 2014-15 season, but those wins have come by an average of 20.2 points.

That includes four blowouts by 27 or more points, two of which occurred last season, when Golden State won 128-100 in New York in October 2018 behind Kevin Durant's 41 points and 122-95 at home in January in a game in which Klay Thompson bombed in 43 points.

Neither Durant nor Thompson will be on hand this time around, and neither will Stephen Curry, who totaled 43 points in the wins.

Now the Warriors are led by the likes of D'Angelo Russell, who has never scored more than 15 points against the Knicks, and Glenn Robinson III, who has never reached double figures vs. New York.

The Knicks, meanwhile, no longer feature David Fizdale, the former Warriors assistant who was fired after the club's 4-18 start.

New York has turned to Mike Miller, who nearly directed a win in his NBA coaching debut Saturday against the Indiana Pacers in a 104-103 home defeat.

The honeymoon proved brief for the promoted assistant coach, as he had to endure a 115-87 blowout loss at Portland on Tuesday night in his first road gig.

If nothing else, Miller learned how to manage minutes on the first night of a back-to-back. With New York down double digits by the 12th minute of the game, Miller gave all 13 of his guys a run, and all 13 responded by getting into either the scoring or rebounding column.

Nobody played more than 27 minutes.

The loss was New York's 10th in a row overall, its fifth straight on the road. The Knicks have three more road games on the slate this week, including their first-ever visit to the Chase Center in San Francisco on Wednesday.

The game will be the Knicks' third in five days in the wake of the coaching change. Rookie RJ Barrett admitted the move hasn't had time to sink in.

"This is a business," he noted to reporters on the eve of the Western trip. "We're pros. Stuff will happen. We have a whole season to go and move on."

The Warriors will be looking to avoid a winless two-game homestand after having been beaten 110-102 at home by the Memphis Grizzlies on Monday night.

That defeat came in the wake of a 100-98 win at Chicago on Friday, just Golden State's fifth victory of the season. The defending Western Conference champs have followed every win this season with a loss.

"We felt at least good about coming home off the road trip with a win and thought we could carry forward with another win (Monday)," Warriors coach Steve Kerr said. "We did not bring our best stuff, so it was disappointing."

--Field Level Media