The Warriors have had trouble coming out of the blocks, entering the home back-to-back 27th in 1st quarter scoring differential. That changed, at least for Wednesday, as Golden State took the court in its “We Believe” threads.

En route to a 121-99 victory against the San Antonio Spurs (8-7), the Warriors won the opening period 36-24 in the first game of their first back-to-back of the season.

San Antonio answered with a 7-0 run to open the second period, and cut the lead to just five points with 5:33 remaining in the half. Curry, who had 20 points in the first half and 26 points, seven assists and 11 rebounds in the contest, then propelled a 16-0 run, punctuated by three assisted James Wiseman dunks.

After just four points and five fouls in almost 13 minutes against the Lakers, Wiseman was aggressive at the rack during a bounceback game. He finished the game with a career-high 20 points on seven dunks in 25 minutes.

Golden State was also hitting from distance, going 8-16 in the first half before finishing the night 15-38, and took a 64-45 lead into the break. Curry punctuated this effort, going 4-5 from three in the first half as the starters scored 60 of the team’s 64 points.

As a defense, the Warriors kept the lid on the Spurs’ basket, holding San Antonio to just 37.2% from the field and 4-33 from long range after Gregg Popovich’s squad had scored 125 points on 53.3% shooting against the Portland Trail Blazers two days prior.

Golden State won the second-half by three points, maintaining its double-digit lead for the final two quarters. Andrew Wiggins ended the game third on the team in scoring with 18 points on 7-12 from the field, while Eric Paschall recorded just seven points in 16 minutes, scoring in single digits for just the second time in the past 11 games.

As the Warriors changed their “Oakland” uniforms for blue “The City” jerseys in the second game of the back-to-back, so flipped the first quarter script. And missing their “heartbeat” for half of the contest didn’t help either.

The Warriors (8-7) lost 119-104 to the New York Knicks (8-8) on Thursday in a game charactized by a symphony of whistles and stagnation from Golden State.

After trailing by double-digits for periods in the first quarter, the Warriors lost Draymond Green late in the second quarter when Green picked up his second technical foul. On a closer look, it appeared Green was yelling at a teammate, and not an official, but was nonetheless ejected from the game.

The Knicks also started out hot, hitting six of their first nine threes and taking a 40-31 lead into the second quarter after a first period with a combined 25 foul shots. There were 80 total free throws and 55 fouls committed at the Chase Center by the end of the contest.

Golden State cut the halftime deficit to six points as Curry went for his second-consecutive 20-point first half, but were then without Green, who had eight assists when he was ejected – the most for any Warrior in a half this season. Curry ended the night with 30 points on five made 3-pointers, moving him just three triples away from tying Reggie Miller for second-most made threes in NBA history.

After a first half when Julius Randle, Elfrid Payton and RJ Barrett all went for double-digit scoring, the entire Knicks starting five exceeded 10 points, with Barrett recording a career-high 28 points.

New York also limited Golden State to 38.4% from the field and 23.7% from distance, both in the bottom four in these respective categories for the Warriors in a game this season.

In their first year under the defensive-minded Tom Thibodeau, the Knicks entered Thursday with the fewest points per game allowed in the league and the lowest defensive field goal and 3-point percentages in the association.

Without a former Defensive Player of the Year in Green, Paschall – who scored eight first-half points on perfect shooting from the field – took the court with the starters in the third and ended the game with 12 points. Wiggins was second on Golden State in scoring with 17 points behind Curry’s game-high 30 points

Jordan Poole has had playing time off of the bench in the past few games, but Nico Mannion got the call in the early third quarter, and then later in the half. The rookie guard picked up three assists and scored his first career point, but New York extended its lead to 13 points before the final period and won by 15.

The Warriors hit the road after a 1-1 homestand, taking on the Jazz in Salt Lake City on Saturday. Tip-off is at 6:00 p.m.