The Denver Nuggets returned home after a one-game road trip to take on 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 hope and that led to a painful 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 slowly from a scoring perspective with only six points combined in the first two minutes. The Nuggets had some tough calls, but they also didn’t make New York look good. The Knicks managed to build a small lead behind Jalen Brunson and Mikal Bridges, who got to six midway through 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 figures with minutes left in the first. The three-ball kept New York ahead, but Denver remained within striking distance as the quarter ended. Brunson and Jokic dueled in the closing minutes and Brunson won the battle. He single-handedly led the Knicks with a 9-2 run and New York led 36-24 after one run.

Joker with a first quarter of 13 points

13 PTS / 4 REB / 2 AST pic.twitter.com/8zpj1CszdQ

— Denver Nuggets (@nuggets) November 26, 2024

Michael Porter Jr. got a few buckets to start the second quarter, but the bench group otherwise looked completely lost. New York went on an 11-0 run to get to twenty-one. After eight minutes, Michael Malone had to bring Jokic back into the game. It didn’t matter much because the Knicks still scored everything and no one outside of Porter scored for Denver. The Nuggets managed to erase the lead and got back under twenty with just under half of the quarter to go, but some mental mistakes on defense put the team back in the lead. That remained the story for the entire first half. Porter would draw Denver closer and then they would take a step back. Each time they did that, their shoulders slumped a little more and they seemed a little less interested on the field. By the end of the half, they trailed 76-53.

slamming and jamming pic.twitter.com/YVeJK2CP4L

— NEW YORK KNICKS (@nyknicks) November 26, 2024

Denver opened the second half and forgot to defend at least one player on seemingly every possession, prompting an anger timeout from Malone less than two minutes into the third quarter. The Knicks simply ran on every Nuggets shot attempt and got easy layups in transition. A little further into the quarter, the Nuggets started a bit of a run to force a New York timeout when they had cut the lead to just now twenty-two. But as was the case all night, they made too many mistakes on defense to stage a significant rally. With four minutes left in the third, Westbrook made a three-pointer, which was the bench’s first field goal and cut the lead to twenty. They kept it around there while the quarter went down. OG Anunoby was a thorn in Denver’s side all quarter, however, he was left wide open and had thirty-eight points before the quarter ended (18 in the third alone). After three, Denver trailed 113-87.

are you kidding me, OG!? 😱 pic.twitter.com/FrJDTDJrrJ

— NEW YORK KNICKS (@nyknicks) November 26, 2024

The fourth opened with more Knicks scoring at will while continuing to get what they wanted. By the time the game had about eight minutes to go, the lead had increased to 30 and it looked like there wouldn’t be a need to bring Jokic or Jamal Murray back. Westbrook deserves credit for still playing with intensity in a match where the lead was up to thirty-five. He ultimately had a great fourth quarter, scoring twenty-four points and at least making things look a little more respectable, but there was little else to cheer about. Malone cleared the bench with three minutes to go and garbage time had arrived. Nuggets lose big, 145-118.

I have to find that mental toughness

The Nuggets looked completely disinterested tonight, especially on defense. It became almost comical early in the third quarter when the Knicks basically leaked one man on every possession and the Nuggets gave him free rein to the basket. All the matador defense built New York’s confidence and then they couldn’t miss anymore. Suddenly, OG 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

A silver lining for tonight is Jamal Murray’s play. He went through a major slump at the beginning of the season, but at least tonight he looked a little more like himself. I think he still looks a step slow in getting around his defender and at the other end of the pitch the opposition is certainly 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 score 20 points and add a half dozen or more assists a night, it will go a long way toward calming Nuggets Nation down.