The Denver Nuggets returned home after a one game road trip to face one of the Eastern Conference’s best teams in the New York Knicks. New York came out strong early and used a big second quarter to put a huge gap between them and Denver on the scoreboard. With the big lead the Nuggets started to lose heart and that led to an embarrassing blowout loss. Denver’s big three played well, and Russell Westbrook had an incredible fourth quarter, but no one played defense all night and the Knicks took advantage. Nuggets drop an ugly one 145-118.

The game started out slow from a scoring standpoint with just six points combined in the first two minutes. The Nuggets got some tough calls but also kept New York from getting good looks. The Knicks was able to build a small lead behind Jalen Brunson and Mikal Bridges that got to six at the midway point of the quarter. Nikola Jokic kept the Nuggets in it with some hyper aggressive scoring with New York having no defenders to slow him down. He hit double digits with several minutes still left in the first. The three ball kept New York in front but Denver stayed within striking distance as the quarter neared its end. Brunson and Jokic dueled in the final minutes and Brunson won the battle. He single handedly led the Knicks on a 9-2 run and New York led after one 36-24.

Michael Porter Jr. got a couple buckets to start the second quarter but the bench group otherwise looked completely lost. New York ripped off an 11-0 run to put themselves up twenty-one. At the eight minute mark Michael Malone was forced to bring Jokic back into the game. It didn’t matter much as the Knicks were still making everything and no one outside of Porter was scoring for Denver. The Nuggets chipped away at the lead to get it back under twenty with just under half the quarter to go but some mental mistakes on defense got it right back up again. That continued to be the story down the stretch of the first half. Porter would get Denver closer and then they’d take a step backward. Each time they did that their shoulders slumped a little more and they looked a little less interested on the court. By the end of the half they trailed 76-53.

Denver opened the second half forgetting to defend at least one player on seemingly every possession which induced a rage timeout from Malone less than two minutes into the third quarter. The Knicks just ran on every Nuggets shot attempt and got easy layups in transition. A little bit more into the quarter, the Nuggets got on a bit of run to force a New York timeout when they had trimmed the lead to just twenty-two. Like was the case all night though, they made too many errors on defense to put together any sort of significant rally. With four minutes to go in the third Westbrook made a three pointer which was the first field goal by the bench and the lead was down to twenty. They held it around there with the quarter winding down. O.G. Anunoby was a thorn in Denver’s side all quarter though, he kept finding himself wide open and had thirty-eight points before the quarter ended (18 in the third alone). After three Denver trailed 113-87.

The fourth opened with more Knicks scoring at will as they continued to get whatever they wanted. By the time the game reached about eight minutes to go the lead was up to thirty and it looked like there wasn’t going to be any need to bring back in Jokic or Jamal Murray. Westbrook deserves credit for still playing with intensity in a game where the lead was up to thirty-five. He ended up having a huge fourth quarter, scoring twenty-four points, and at least made things look a bit more respectable but there was little else to cheer for. Malone emptied out the bench with three minutes to go and garbage time was on. Nuggets lose big, 145-118.

Gotta find that mental toughness

The Nuggets looked completely disinterested tonight, particularly on the defensive end. It got almost comical at the start of the third quarter when the Knicks basically just leaked out one guy on every possession and the Nuggets gave him free run to the basket. All the matador defense built up New York’s confidence and then they couldn’t miss. Suddenly O.G. Anunoby looked like Kevin Durant. Energy continues to be a story for the Nuggets early in the season and not in a good way. Hopefully they can find their collective fire soon.

Jamal looked better

Nov 25, 2024; Denver, Colorado, USA; Denver Nuggets guard Jamal Murray (27) dribbles the ball in the first quarter against the New York Knicks at Ball Arena. Mandatory Credit: Ron Chenoy-Imagn Images

A silver lining for tonight is the play of Jamal Murray. He’s been going through a major slump to start the season but at least tonight he looked a little more like himself. I think he still looks a step slow getting around his defender and on the other end of the court the opponent is definitely targeting him but that’s nothing new. Denver doesn’t need bubble Murray right now, really they just need some more nights like tonight. If Jamal can continue to put up 20 points and throw in a half dozen or more assists a night that will go a long way to calming Nuggets Nation.