Chris Duhon sets assist mark as Knicks beat Golden State

The Golden State Warriors are defensively challenged at best and, for that matter, the New York Knicks are a long way from the physical, low scoring Eastern Conference contenders of the Patrick Ewing era.  With Golden State’s leading scorer Stephen Jackson out of the lineup with a sprained wrist, the Knicks’ offense made short work of the Warriors’ porous defense en route to a 138-125 win at Madison Square Garden on Saturday.

Having a field day against the Warriors was Chris Duhon, who shredded their defense for a franchise record 22 assists to go along with 12 points.  Duhon broke a record that had stood since 1958 when Ritchie Guerin had 21 assists against the St. Louis Hawks.  David Lee added a career high 37 points and 21 rebounds.  Newly acquired Al Harington added 36 points and 12 boards for New York.  Overall, the Knicks put up 82 first half points, including 43 in the second quarter—both marks are Madison Square Garden records. 

After the game, Lee confirmed the obvious after becoming the first Knick player to score 30 and pull down 20 boards since Patrick Ewing in 1997:

"Chris Duhon did a great job of finding me on the pick-and-roll. And he found me about 18 or 20 times."

The Warriors dropped their sixth straight and completed their East Coast road swing with a 0-5 mark.  Their season record is now 5-12 and they’ll enjoy a single game at home before heading back on the road with games at San Antonio, Houston and Oklahoma City.

New York still has the Stephon Marbury soap opera hanging over their heads, but reports indicated that team president Donnie Walsh will be attempting to resolve that once and for all on Monday.  After evening their YTD record at 8-8, the Knicks will host the red hot Portland Trailblazers on Tuesday night before heading out on the road themselves for games at Cleveland and Atlanta.