Game Thread: New York Knicks vs Denver Nuggets 1/10/2021 6:00 [Game #10]

Three weeks ago, it would have come as a surprise that the 10th game of the season would arrive for the New York Knicks and Denver Nuggets with one trying to stay above .500 and the other trying to get there.

But how about the Knicks as the team trying to maintain a winning record and the Nuggets attempting to get to .500?

The Knicks will look to continue their resurgence and the Nuggets will aim to climb out of their early season hole Sunday night, when New York hosts Denver in a rare nonconference clash.

The Knicks had their three-game winning streak snapped Friday night, when they squandered an early 11-point lead and fell to the visiting Oklahoma City Thunder, 101-89. The Nuggets will be completing a back-to-back road set after beating the undermanned Philadelphia 76ers, 115-103, on Saturday afternoon.

Being 5-4 through nine games isn't usually worth noting, but the Knicks haven't reached the playoffs since the spring of 2014 and are over .500 beyond the first week of the season for the first time since 2017-18, when they were 17-16 through 33 games.

The biggest sign of the Knicks' resurgence under first-year head coach Tom Thibodeau might be the urgency expressed following the loss to the Thunder. After all, OKC was expected to begin rebuilding this season after parting ways with head coach Billy Donovan in September and trading Chris Paul in November.

The Knicks raised their own expectations by beating the Eastern Conference favorite Milwaukee Bucks 130-110 on Dec. 27 before knocking off a pair of contenders, the Indiana Pacers and Utah Jazz, in their three-game winning streak.

The loss to the Thunder, though, reminded New York how far it still has to go.

"We dropped a game that we felt like we should have won," Knicks guard Austin Rivers said following practice Saturday. "Going into the game, we felt like that's a team that we should beat. So when you mess up like that, when you mess with the game, the game pays you back. You've got to get back on track."

The Nuggets, who reached the Western Conference finals for only the fourth time in franchise history last summer, stumbled out to a 1-4 start in which they lost two games by three points or less.

The victory Saturday was the third in four games for the Nuggets, who viewed the afternoon clash against the 76ers as a must-win contest given the depleted nature of the 76ers. Philadelphia took the floor with just seven players due to a spate of injuries and health and safety measures and the absence of Seth Curry, who tested positive for the coronavirus Thursday.

The Nuggets were able to put away the 76ers quickly enough so that center Nikola Jokic sat out the fourth quarter despite being one rebound shy of his third double-double of the season. He finished with 15 points, 12 assists and nine rebounds.

"We have to find a way -- I don't care if it's against Saint Buzzy's," Nuggets head coach Michael Malone said. "We've got to find a way to get a win."

--Field Level Media

(STATS / cbssports.com)

Thank you for the game thread Rady!

If our team is gonna be a playoff team we gotta show that we can bounce back after a tough loss.

Game is about to start .. Lets get this W :gony:

EP is playing decent defense on Murray, but now Jamal is starting to get hot... on 4 drives to the paint, EP bricked 2 shots, turned ball over (on easy alley-oop to Mitch) then had ball tipped out to a NYK player.

This guy is tough on the eyes.

Another game we get nothing from the 8th pick in the draft. So foolish taking PF Toppin over Halliburton....

For those keeping score, ? Obi Toppin has been out for 18 days and counting. At this point, the emphasis is on counting.
Coach Tom Thibodeau said the hyped rookie is ?progressing? but has not yet been cleared for contact.?

Knicks are getting demolished... 65-35 disparity in shooting percentage. Looks like we are back to heading towards the lottery... maybe we get luck and compete for the loser play-in bracket.

Awful 2nd qrt so far and some of Thibs faves are starting to look really suspect

Knox still does nothing different than his 1st yr besides hit 3s

We?re too reliant on Randle which isn?t necessarily fair to him

Even when Payton plays well I dislike him. Probably no fault of him but I thought signing him the first time was so unnecessary...hate when executives try to prove pts attempting to right their wrongs or justify past decisions(Scott Perry)

Randle has 16 of the team?s 34 points.

Party?s over.

Im Late to the Game .. and so is Thibs 6 Man rotation .. End of 3rd qtr. Knicks 64 - Nuggets 82

I watch the majority of the 3rd qtr. to notice the Knicks 1 or 2 touches on offense, while the Nuggets are passing the ball around to get 4 or more touches before taking a shot.
The Knicks offense has to much DRIBBLING and no team-chemistry

It's GARBAGE- TIME !!! 87 - 67 Nuggets .. 11 min remain in Game.

I would like Thibs to rest Payton entirely for a few gms when/if the team gets healthy

There are a couple rotations we need to see before too much of the schedule gets away from us

I agree. I would like to see a starting NYK backcourt of Rivers and Burks.

mafra said:

I agree. I would like to see a starting NYK backcourt of Rivers and Burks.

Click to expand...

I could be wrong but I saw a rumor we may be targeting Zach Lavine in a trade

With what assets tho? We?re headed down a path of engaging a team and them asking for too much when no value has been built up

Starting Rivers and Burks is ideal if we had a better bench

The team has to balance 2 rotations or go Top Heavy as you?re suggesting and shrink it

We know what we have with Payton he?s not a trade asset. IQ hasn?t looked good in recent gms but who would he play better with...maybe Rivers on a sample size?

What?s the ?balanced two set rotation? is the question?

If, at the very least, we walk away this season with a clear All-Star caliber player in Randle. 26-yr-old PF... and 2 top 20 picks in the upcoming draft, then we are OK.

Our defensive stats clearly show Thibbs is getting the message across. Right now, the starting lineup needs to feature Randle, and nothing else. Surround him with shooting. Rivers, Burks, Bullocks, Randle and Robinson. RJ, IQ, Knox should be first men off the bench, EP the backup PG and Frank the backup wing, with Noel and Taj backup Cs.

I would love for the team to go out and use some trade chips to snag a quality G. The better the players, the more assets I would part with. But, a player like Lavine has played on a lot of losing teams. I would be cool taking that gamble, but he isn?t a tier one level game-changer. So, he?s more on the tier 2-3 level, which just means he is worth a pick and a player... nothing more.

mafra said:

If, at the very least, we walk away this season with a clear All-Star caliber player in Randle. 26-yr-old PF... and 2 top 20 picks in the upcoming draft, then we are OK.

Our defensive stats clearly show Thibbs is getting the message across. Right now, the starting lineup needs to feature Randle, and nothing else. Surround him with shooting. Rivers, Burks, Bullocks, Randle and Robinson. RJ, IQ, Knox should be first men off the bench, EP the backup PG and Frank the backup wing, with Noel and Taj backup Cs.

I would love for the team to go out and use some trade chips to snag a quality G. The better the players, the more assets I would part with. But, a player like Lavine has played on a lot of losing teams. I would be cool taking that gamble, but he isn?t a tier one level game-changer. So, he?s more on the tier 2-3 level, which just means he is worth a pick and a player... nothing more.

Click to expand...

Bullock isn?t a long term solution, I understand his role but it doesn?t have lasting value for us

Where?s Toppin?s minutes?

The thing is we should be developing RJ to do much of what Bullock does on top of finishing in the paint. That?s where he needs to improve and benching doesn?t help in this case

If we?re trying to win or get better now then trading for Lavine makes sense. It?s not a slam dunk(pun intended) but it would provide more clarity with roster going forward

We can?t have it every which way, which is what our front office attempts to do until the mathematics are no longer on their side and the well of opportunity to change has run dry

This regime should prove it functions different from the past and this is what I?m keeping a close eye on

Last season the Nuggets gave us one of our biggest blow-out losses 129 - 92.
Tonight, the Nuggets did it again giving us a 114 - 89 LOSS.

The Knicks has to make a trade ASAP to get two more big-men (center & PF) to go along with MitchRob in Thibs rotation. The short & small-ball rotation Thibs has been running got blown-out in each loss by three East teams, and two western conference teams, by the Knicks depending on shooting the majority of their shots each game from the perimeter. The Knicks 10 games has showed the Knicks are a poor shooting perimeter team.

The Knicks has played 10 games to have a 5-5 record ..
I must ask this question, what does Noel do well?
In 10 games, Noel has showed consistently to have really bad hands on offense, that provides very little defensive presence to the point Noel's not good on either end of the court for coach Thibs Knicks team.
Rookie Obi Toppin's skills & performance at the PF position has been very weak for NBA B.ball.
And Randle's performance has turned into a solid strong SF, rather than PF, who dribble one to many times in the majority of the Knicks offensive plays.
Knox raw-raw performance in 8 of the Knicks 10 games says "I'm still in my rookie season!".

The Knicks starter PG-Payton has gotten out-played and out-performed by 8 of the Knicks past 10 opponents.
RJ Barrett has been averaging above 35 minute in the Knicks first 10 games of the regular season, the same minute of playing-time RJ received last season from coach Fiz.
My big question on RJ are .. When are we gonna see RJ Barrett take over in a game ???
We watched Quickley & Rivers take over a Knicks game for a Knicks win in the 4th qtr., but somehow in the Knicks past two games (Utah & Nuggets) Payton, Barrett, and Randle control the ball on the majority of offensive plays, for ISO-plays only, very little of team-ball plays to invite other teammates into the offense. WHY?
In our first 3 games of this season, our most minute played trio Payton, RJ, and Randle were performing the same as they did last season having consistent losses under Knicks coach Fiz/Miller offense/defense plan.
In the 3rd game of the regular season coach Thibs couldn't change the trio's losing performance, so coach Thibs finally gave our 6.6 defensive guard Frank 10 straight minute of playing-time to put defensive pressure on the Bucks guards so the Knicks could gain the lead, plus stretch the lead throughout Franks 10 minute on the court to give the Knicks a 16 pt lead at halftime.
Did the Knicks need Frank skills in the rotation during the Utah & Denver game? Yes they did!
I believe Frank is on the Knicks injured list because Frank Fired the Knicks president Rose as his agent.

Broadway said:

Bullock isn’t a long term solution, I understand his role but it doesn’t have lasting value for us

Where’s Toppin’s minutes?

The thing is we should be developing RJ to do much of what Bullock does on top of finishing in the paint. That’s where he needs to improve and benching doesn’t help in this case

If we’re trying to win or get better now then trading for Lavine makes sense. It’s not a slam dunk(pun intended) but it would provide more clarity with roster going forward

We can’t have it every which way, which is what our front office attempts to do until the mathematics are no longer on their side and the well of opportunity to change has run dry

This regime should prove it functions different from the past and this is what I’m keeping a close eye on

Click to expand...

When it comes to trade .. The Knicks need a Big-Man like Bamba more than they need Lavine.
Plus RJ and Bullock unimproved performance did nothing to help the Knicks win any of their 5 games.

We must admit, it was good while it lasted.
It look like we better get prepared for the down spiral we are so used to.
The two straight losses were disheartening .. especially being in a back to back tomorrow, playing against a hot 3 game winning streak Hornets team.
Well, at least we will all remember the time we were 5-3 and the talk of the town, that Thibs coaching will make us a win win team.

Broadway said:

Bullock isn?t a long term solution, I understand his role but it doesn?t have lasting value for us

Where?s Toppin?s minutes?

The thing is we should be developing RJ to do much of what Bullock does on top of finishing in the paint. That?s where he needs to improve and benching doesn?t help in this case

If we?re trying to win or get better now then trading for Lavine makes sense. It?s not a slam dunk(pun intended) but it would provide more clarity with roster going forward

We can?t have it every which way, which is what our front office attempts to do until the mathematics are no longer on their side and the well of opportunity to change has run dry

This regime should prove it functions different from the past and this is what I?m keeping a close eye on

Click to expand...

I don?t see it as a demotion for RJ, mainly bc this is all about spacing. I think RJ isn?t helped playing with EP and Randle. I still play RJ 35 minutes... But, like you said, RJ is part of the future and there?s no way he comes the bench.... and not like Bullock is matching career norms anyway.

I think Rivers, Burks, RJ works as well.

Knicks need to decide the G they covet most, then go make the deal to get that player. Don?t settle for best available. Find the right fit.

I didn?t like the Toppin pick bc it?s a bad match for our roster, and I wasn?t convinced he did enough offensively to validate the hype... I don?t see where the minutes come from, to be honest with you. Not while Knox is still here.

mafra said:

I don?t see it as a demotion for RJ, mainly bc this is all about spacing. I think RJ isn?t helped playing with EP and Randle. I still play RJ 35 minutes... But, like you said, RJ is part of the future and there?s no way he comes the bench.... and not like Bullock is matching career norms anyway.

I think Rivers, Burks, RJ works as well.

Knicks need to decide the G they covet most, then go make the deal to get that player. Don?t settle for best available. Find the right fit.

I didn?t like the Toppin pick bc it?s a bad match for our roster, and I wasn?t convinced he did enough offensively to validate the hype... I don?t see where the minutes come from, to be honest with you. Not while Knox is still here.

Click to expand...

I totally get what you?re saying about RJ and Knox but here?s the thing...

We as an organization have to show we value lottery picks. You can?t have Knox, RJ, Toppin battling for minutes off the bench(they?re somewhat interchangeable) and then if a team inquires for trade act like we can?t give any of them up as if they?re worth their weight in gold

We already trashed 2 lottery picks in Knits and DSJ. This cycle needs to end ASAP

Properly develop the youth for crying out loud