(Picture credit score: Christopher Creveling-Imagn Photos)
The Knicks left their five-game street journey on a successful streak and brimming with confidence. These good emotions evaporated in a loss to the host Utah Jazz on Saturday night time, and now New York travels to Denver to face the Nuggets on Monday.
New York’s four-game successful streak ended an up-and-down begin to the season, however poor capturing and faltering protection led to the loss to the lowly Jazz. The Knicks almost overcame a 19-point deficit earlier than Utah pulled away for a 121-106 victory.
“We have struggled on the defensive finish all season. While you’re not making pictures and you are not taking part in properly defensively, it is a recipe for catastrophe,” Knicks guard/ahead Josh Hart stated. . “We have now to determine it out on the defensive aspect.”
New York must get by shortly in opposition to a Denver group that scores at a excessive price. The Nuggets are tied for fifth within the NBA with a median of 117.5 factors per recreation regardless of Aaron Gordon being out for 3 weeks and Nikola Jokic lacking three video games for the start of his second youngster.
The burden of attempting to cease Jokic, the three-time reigning MVP, will fall on Karl-Anthony Cities, who is aware of Denver from his 9 seasons with the Minnesota Timberwolves.
If the Knicks cannot cease the Nuggets defensively, they will must compensate with a greater offense, which did not occur in opposition to Utah.
“There are going to be nights the place you don’t do properly,” New York coach Tom Thibodeau stated. “What you possibly can’t do, you possibly can’t enable missed pictures to remove out of your protection the power that you simply want. You need to win video games in numerous methods.”
Denver is coming off a back-to-back set that began with disappointment and ended with a dominant 127-102 win over the Lakers on Saturday night time. The Nuggets blew a late lead at house in opposition to the Dallas Mavericks on Friday night time, however bounced again to win in Los Angeles.
The win was the 433rd for Nuggets coach Michael Malone, passing Doug Moe for essentially the most in franchise historical past. It was a welcome sight after Denver’s NBA Cup loss to the Mavericks, the place they had been outscored 15-7 within the last three minutes of Dallas’ 123-120 victory.
The Nuggets miss Gordon, however Peyton Watson has stuffed in properly for his absence. Watson averages 10.0 factors per recreation and has been a robust defensive presence within the beginning lineup. He had three blocks in Friday night time’s loss and is averaging a team-high 1.1 blocks per recreation.
He additionally noticed the good thing about sharing the court docket extra with Jokic, who leads the NBA in rebounds per recreation (13.9) and is second in assists per recreation (11.3).
“I am simply extra comfy, I’ve extra taking part in expertise. It is so simple as that. To have the ability to play with among the best gamers within the historical past of the basketball, it takes loads of effort. “Listen and I am trying on the half-court rim,” Watson stated. “In transition, it is all about being assured, attacking the rim with conviction and attempting to lose two factors each time.”
–Area stage media
