The Denver Nuggets, while not playing their best basketball recently, have managed to win five-straight games before arriving in New York to take on the Knicks at Madison Square Garden.
Despite Denver playing with less than ideal aggression and intensity, they manhandled the New York Knicks easily and came away with a 111-93 win for their sixth-straight victory.
The game between the Nuggets and Knicks was a slaughtering from the beginning. New York continued to brick shot after shot and they compounded the issue by letting Denver’s offense operate freely.
Denver used a 15-0 run to take a 26-9 lead in under seven minutes of play. Nikola Jokic was slinging passes all over the floor, Paul Millsap was bullying anyone trying to fight with him for rebounds, Will Barton was raining down mortar fire from 3-point range, and Gary Harris was hitting every shot he put up.
When the first quarter mercifully ended, the Nuggets had a 37-18 lead. Nothing was working for the Knicks on either end while Denver was effortlessly thriving.
Then, in the second quarter, New York got a few strong minutes from Mitchell Robinson who helped the Knicks jump out to an 11-2 run in the first couple minutes of the second frame. That is also when Denver took their foot off of the gas pedal. Denver could have put the Knicks away early, but they allowed them to keep building confidence.
The Knicks success was short-lived as Denver answered back with six-straight points of their own as the Nuggets took back complete control of the game. There were a couple moments where it looked as if the Knicks were going to get back on track, but by the time halftime arrived, Denver has a commanding 14-point lead. After two quarters, the Nuggets led 56-42.
In all honesty, the Nuggets lead should have been much closer to 20+ points, but it did not matter. The Nuggets had complete control of the game anyways.
In the third quarter, Denver continued to allow the Knicks to hang around unnecessarily. It was very clear that Denver was on the second night of a back-to-back because their focus wavered all night. Still, despite less than ideal urgency and aggression, Denver managed take an 82-62 lead into the fourth and final quarter thanks to Jokic deciding that he was un-guardable and attacking relentlessly for the last few minutes of the third frame.
The fourth quarter was nothing more than a formality as Denver pushed their lead as high as 21 points. Denver has now won 49 games against just 22 losses on the year.
By the time the final buzzer sounded, Jokic led the Nuggets with 21 points, 17 rebounds, and five assists. Beyond Jokic, it was a full team effort by the Nuggets, who had six players score in double digits. Against his former team, Emmanuel Mudiay was strong and finished with 21 points, seven rebounds, and four assists.
Next, the Nuggets will finish up their four-game road trip with a afternoon game in Indiana against the Pacers on Sunday. That game will tip off at 3pm MST.