The final lengthy homestand of the season for the New York Knicks is off to an historically strong start. Conversely, the Denver Nuggets’ longest road trip of the season has been challenging.
New York hosts Denver on Wednesday night in a showdown between potential NBA title contenders.
Both teams were off on Tuesday after playing on Monday. The Knicks led nearly wire-to-wire in a 143-106 victory over the Memphis Grizzlies, while the Nuggets squandered a 10-point third-quarter lead, falling to the Chicago Bulls 129-121.
The Knicks achieved their most prolific back-to-back stretch in nearly 60 years, after a 143-120 win over the Sacramento Kings on Saturday to open the five-game homestand. This marks the first time New York has scored at least 140 points in consecutive games since December 1965, when they defeated the Baltimore Bullets 150-127 and the San Francisco Warriors 141-137.
Mikal Bridges (28 points) led seven Knicks in double figures on Monday night. The team trailed just once at 2-0 before dominating the Grizzlies on both ends of the court. New York outscored Memphis 83-54 in the second half, finishing the game with 20 steals, the second-most by an NBA team this season. The Atlanta Hawks recorded 22 steals against the Toronto Raptors on December 29.
New York, now 6-6 against teams currently in playoff positions, will close out its homestand by playing four straight teams among the top six in the Western Conference. The Los Angeles Lakers visit on Saturday night, followed by the Houston Rockets on Monday night.
The Nuggets have had defensive issues over their last two games, leading to consecutive losses for the first time since late December. Denver hasn’t lost three in a row since February 2024. They have allowed a combined 262 points to the Bulls and Minnesota Timberwolves, the most points surrendered by Denver in back-to-back games since October 2023.
Denver allowed seven Bulls players to score in double figures on Monday and gave up 34 points in the fourth quarter. Chicago shot 54.2 percent from the field in that quarter, including 46.2 percent from 3-point range.
Despite the defensive struggles, Nikola Jokic had another impressive performance, posting a triple-double (33 points, 12 rebounds, 14 assists) while becoming the first player to go 10-of-10 from the field in a first half with at least eight assists.
