SAN FRANCISCO - The Warriors knew what they were getting Thursday night when the New York Knicks came into Chase Center without their best player and following a loss to the lowly Kings in Sacramento 21 hours earlier.
The Knicks would be angry and surely knew they had to compensate for Jalen Brunson's absence.
The Warriors shook off a slow start and a pesky outing by the Knicks by riding a superb game from Jimmy Butler III to come away with a 126-113 victory that put Golden State (23-19) four games over .500 for the first time this season.
Butler poured in a game-high 32 points, with Stephen Curry scoring 27, Moses Moody finishing with 21 and Brandin Podziemski adding 19. This was the eighth time this season that at least three Warriors scored at least 20 points.
Here are three observations from a win over the skidding Knicks:
When the Warriors endured another slow start, falling behind 33-19 with 3:33 left in the first quarter, Curry went to the bench a few seconds later, putting the non-Steph minutes under the microscope.
When Curry exits, that means Butler enters. With his scoring and orchestration, the Warriors closed the quarter on an 11-2 run to pull within five.
That shifted the momentum ever so slightly, as Golden State won the second quarter by eight, taking a 62-59 lead into halftime. Butler scored 15 points in 15 first-half minutes.
When the Knicks opened the third quarter with a surge, it was Curry who lit a fire under the Warriors. After missing all five of his 3-point attempts in the first half, he drained back-to-back triples, pushing the lead to eight, and then snagged a steal that led to a Moody triple that pushed it to 11.
Curry scored 10 points in nine third-quarter minutes, shooting 4-of-4 from the field, including 2-of-2 from distance.
The Knicks spent the fourth quarter chasing the Warriors in vain.
Batman and Robin, folks, combining for 59 points.
When Moody shot 30.1 percent from deep over a 15-game span from Dec. 12 to Jan. 11, it was fair to wonder if his wayward stroke would cost him his place in the starting lineup.
Coach Steve Kerr stayed with him, and his patience appears to be paying off.
Moody scored 12 first-half points, all on triples, without a miss. His game total of 21 points came on 7-of-10 shooting from the field, including 7-of-9 from deep.
With this game following an encouraging performance Tuesday night against Portland, when Moody scored 14 points on 5-of-9 shooting from the field, including 4-of-8 from distance, it seems he has at least temporarily fixed his shot.
The Warriors will take it. Moody's role is to provide point-of-attack defense on one end and be the designated catch-and-shoot wing on the other. His defense has been mostly satisfactory, but the offense gains another dimension when his deep shot is falling.
After his slow start to this season, Podziemski became a lightning rod for criticism from Dub Nation. Some of it was warranted, some of it was subjective.
But the third-year pro put together a strong December, averaging 12.7 points per game while shooting 51.7 percent from the field, including 44.4 percent from deep.
Though Podziemski's overall play has leveled off this month, he's still productive and came off the bench to submit an excellent performance against the Knicks.
Podziemski's 19 points came on 8-of-9 shooting from the field, including 2-of-3 from beyond the arc. He added five rebounds, two assists and two steals, playing 26 minutes and finishing a team-best plus-22.