Nuggets Ends the First Half Strong and Never Looks Back, Knicks Lose 78-106

Monday’s night the New York Knicks at Denver Nuggets game started off competitively, tied up at 25 after the first quarter. The Knicks shared the ball well in the first quarter, seven players including every starter got onto the scoreboard. New York collected 9 assist on 11 made field goals, with Alexey Shved leading the way with seven first quarter points in just six minutes of play.

Former-Knick Wilson Chandler kept Denver in the game, scoring seven points in the first quarter. The Nuggets were able to stay in the game early largely due to free throws, New York was already in the penalty by the five minute mark. Denver was able to convert 9/13 free throws in the opening quarter.

Will Barton went on a mini 5-0 run to start the second quarter to give Denver a 30-25 lead with 10:57 remaining in the first half. Cleanthony Early stopped the run with a three-pointer, ending a personal draught of 18 missed three-point attempts dating back to February 11^th. Unfortunately for New York, Early’s three-point field goal would be the only field goal converted for the next five minutes. Denver took advantage, going on a 9-3 during this span, the Nuggets lead 39-31 with 6:26 left in the second quarter.

New York got within two points by aggressively attacking the paint 39-37, Langston Galloway got two layups and Andrea Bargnani got to the free throw line with an aggressive post move.

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With a little under five minutes remaining in the first half, Denver closed out the first half strong, going on a 16-3 run. New York was held scoreless for the final three minutes in the first half. Denver got into the paint at will during this stretch, scoring 20 points in the paint in the second quarter. The Nuggets lead 55-40 by intermission. New York was horrendous on offense in the second quarter, converting on only four field goals, shooting 26.7%. The poor shooting was compounded with the seven turnovers committed in the period.

New York came out of the half lackluster, allowing wide open shots by Denver, prompting Derek Fisher to call a couple of quick timeouts. It did not matter…the Nuggets continued to pour it on, scoring 36 points in the third quarter, leading by as many as 32 points in the period. Chandler scored 10 of his 17 points in the third quarter. Ty Lawson dominated the third quarter as well, scoring 9 points and dishing out 5 assist in the quarter. Another former-Knick Danilo Gallinari had his fun as well, going behind the back then throwing a no look pass to J.J. Hickson for a slam dunk!

Much of the second half was essentially garbage time as Denver won the game 106-78. Four Nuggets were in double digit scoring, with Kenneth Faried collecting his 18^th double-double on the season with 19 points and 11 rebounds.

Shved was the lone bright spot for New York Monday night, scoring 19 points with the best +/- of any Knick, -3. Shved did most of his damage though in garbage time in the third quarter, scoring 11 points in the period. Although Shved was also the only reason New York was even in the game to start with early on, unfortunately Shved had to take a seat due to early foul trouble.

New York will not have much time to rest, taking on a suddenly surging Utah Jazz team Tuesday night. Utah is 7-3 in their last ten games, and look to continue their winning ways against the lowly Knicks.