In what the Knicks hope is an NBA Finals preview, New York went toe-to-toe, at least for a while, with the defending champion Denver Nuggets on Thursday night.
There were 10 lead changes and 12 ties, however, Nikola Jokic and the Nuggets were too much as the Knicks fell 113-100.
Here are the takeaways…
– The Knicks had a taste of their own medicine as Denver outrebounded and was just the more physical team. New York was outrebounded 13-26 at halftime, and 36-49 in total, including 4-9 on the offensive boards.
Denver outscored the Knicks 66-46 in the paint, 17-8 in second-chance points and 16-7 in fastbreak points.
– Jalen Brunson was great again. He tied a season-high for assists in a quarter when he dished six of them in the first quarter. He would finish with 26 points and eight assists.
– Miles McBride got the start again after his career-high 29 points against the Warriors and defending Steph Curry admirably. Thursday, he wasn’t as proficient on offense — scoring 11 points on 4-of-9 shooting — but he had another tough task on defense.
McBride was asked to guard Jamal Murray, who finished with 23 points on 9-of-20 shooting.
– Jokic was guarded by Isaiah Hartenstein and the Knicks center tried but the two-time MVP was too much to defend. Jokic nearly had a triple-double at halftime (16 points, nine rebounds, 10 assists) and finished with 30 points, 14 rebounds and 11 assists.
Hartenstein, however, matched Jokic on the scorecard in the first half. Hartenstein scored 13 points while rebounding five rebounds and dishing two assists. He finished with a career-high 20 points while grabbing eight boards.
– The Knicks bench outscored the Nuggets bench 30-12 thanks to Alec Burks‘ 18 points (including nine in the fourth quarter) on 5-of-11 shooting.
– In the midst of the loss, Donte DiVincenzo hit three more three-pointers (3-of-7 in the game) and put himself ahead of Julius Randle for the second-most three-pointers made in a single season in Knicks franchise history (219).
Highlights
What’s Next
After their four-game road trip, the Knicks return home to welcome the Brooklyn Nets to the Garden on Saturday at 1…
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