The Denver Nuggets came out against the New York Knicks and behaved as if they were asleep. For the first two quarters the Nuggets didn’t close out on three point shooters and allowed Kristaps Porzingis to score 22 of his career high 36 points. The Nuggets eventually lost 116-110.
At the half the Nuggets were down by 22 points 65-43.
After starting the quarter with a brief flurry from the Knicks the Nuggets were down 69-46. Then began one of the most impressive runs I’ve seen from a Nuggets team. They outscored the Knicks 31 – 6 over the next eight minute stretch and briefly took a 77-75 lead. Jamal Murray – who continued his good offensive streak with 20 points – and Nikola Jokic (28 points) spearheaded the Nuggets explosion along with the great defense of Gary Harris.
The Nuggets fell back a bit at the end of the third quarter when the bench unit featuring Emmanuel Mudiay and Will Barton came in. This unit stayed on the floor for seven-plus minutes and may have been out there for too long. The Nuggets never really regained their hard-fought momentum and essentially stayed at arms length away from the Knicks down the stretch (getting within two points two minutes left in the game).
The Nuggets come home for a six game home stand starting Wednesday against the Toronto Raptors.