Second half comeback not strong enough to hold off the Nuggets

It was the second quarter and the Knicks were trailing 28-48 in what would announce another blowout loss. The last time the Knicks were defeated by the Nuggets, coach Fizdale lost his job. But this time, they wouldn’t go down easy.

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In fact, they stormed the Nuggets 33-20 in the third and led by 5 in the fourth quarter; however, they could not keep the pace to Denver’s 11-0 run in the closing minutes and dropped eventually, 111-105.

Marcus Morris led the Knicks with 22 buckets, Julius Randle added 20 and Frank Ntilikina contributed with 13 points.

Elfrid Payton seems to be back in rotation and was close to a triple double after scoring 10 points, dishing 11 assists and grabbing 7 boards.

The Nuggets were led by Nikola Jokic’s 25 points and 10 rebounds. Will Barton scored 16 and Gary Harris added 15 points for Denver’s 17th win of the season.

“We grew a lot this road trip. Being able to come out .500 on a road trip is always good. We gave ourselves a chance to make it a great one, being up four late in the fourth. We didn’t capitalize and missed some easy shots. They made shots and we lost. We get to come home and give ourselves a chance to start up again and play good again.”

– Julius Randle

The Knicks finished a west coast trip with 2 wins and 2 losses, a success for Mike Miller who inherited a 4-18 team.