About an hour after his Nuggets got outplayed on both ends of the floor at Madison Square Garden, Nikola Jokic had this to say about the Knicks:
“They’re a really good team. I think they are the favorites – not the favorites, but, I think [they are] top-five candidates for the title.”
That’s high praise from a three-time MVP and one of the best players on the planet. And it tells you just how well the Knicks are playing at the moment.
New York is on a five-game winning streak – the last two coming against the No. 3 and No. 4 teams in the Western Conference. The win before that was against a Kings team that had won 10 of its last 12 games.
On Wednesday, the Knicks got a brilliant performance from Jalen Brunson. He had 18 points in the third quarter and had every reason to keep shooting in the fourth. Instead, Brunson used the attention from Denver’s defense to set up his teammates.
He had four assists in a 2:30 stretch late in the fourth that saw the Knicks expand their lead from four to 10.
“He was just special. Cap is special. Everyone knows,” Karl-Anthony Towns said. “We needed him to score tonight, we needed him to do what he does best. And he did that. That’s why he’s special. Whenever his name is called in the biggest moment, he’s ready.”
OFF NIGHT FOR NIKOLA
Jokic was in foul trouble early and played just 90 seconds in the first quarter. He seemed a little out of rhythm the rest of the night, finishing with 17 points on 6-for-15 shooting.
“He’s one of the best players in the NBA. So it takes a team effort and [to] be willing to take the competition and take the matchup,” Towns said of the Knick defense on Jokic. “And all I can say for me is I wanted to make it difficult on him and make him [have] to consistently think about the pressure we had to apply. When you [guard] a player who is that special, you want to make it as difficult as possible. And I think that’s what our team did. Just try to make him think, try to make him second-guess, which is something he doesn’t do much of [because] he’s so talented.”
DEFENSE RISING
The Knicks have the eighth-best defensive efficiency in the NBA over the last 10 days. They have the NBA’s best net rating (+15.6) over that span and lead the league in assist-to-turnover ratio. They’re fourth in turnovers forced and 10th in opponent field goal percentage, second in points off of turnovers and second in fast-break points.
“We’re understanding each other a lot more. We’re clicking,” Brunson said. “I love how we’re playing. It’s something we’ve got to continue.”
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