The New York Knicks completed their second regular season sweep over the Nuggets in three years in a 122-112 win on Wednesday at MSG. New York has won five of its last six games against Denver, including both games against the Nuggets in 2023 when they won their first NBA title.
Denver isn't the powerhouse it was a couple of years ago, but it's not easy to beat any team led by three-time MVP Nikola Jokic. The Knicks entered the matchup having an upper hand in Karl-Anthony Towns, who helped contain Jokic in the 2024 postseason when the Timberwolves eliminated the Nuggets in the second round.
Jokic took himself out of the game before KAT could, as he picked up two quick fouls in the first quarter. He didn't return to the game until about the midway point of the second quarter. The Nuggets kept it close without Jokic. They built a lead in the third quarter, but the pesky Knicks didn't quit and pulled away down the stretch.
The win marked New York's second in three days against a top team in the West and the fifth in a row. The Knicks are starting to click on all cylinders and look like a team that can make a deep playoff run. Jokic seems to think so, too.
Q: "Knicks hurt you guys this year. What makes them so tough?"
— New York Basketball (@NBA_NewYork) January 30, 2025
Nikola Jokic: "They've hurt us the last couple years. They're playing really well. They're well-coached…They know what they're doing. They're a really good team…Top 5 candidates for the title" pic.twitter.com/jX16jMplgK
Reigning MVP Nikola Jokic speaks highly about Knicks after New York win
Jokic is the best basketball player in the world and will go down as an all-time great. He's in the conversation for his fourth regular-season MVP award and has an NBA Finals MVP and championship under his belt. Listening to him speak highly about the Knicks says a lot. Jokic wouldn't say those things if they weren't true.
There is still a lot of regular-season basketball left to be played, but New York is on the right track. The last two games prove that much, but the Knicks can't get ahead of themselves.
They have one of the toughest remaining schedules in the league, but if there's a team that can come out better on the other side, it's New York. You can't forget last season when they finished as the No. 3 seed in the East with an injury-ravaged roster.
Let's see how the Knicks fare in the last few months of the regular season this time around. New York has a real chance to surpass Boston as the No. 2 seed and finally go beyond the second round of the postseason (for all of the reasons Jokic listed). Imagine reading that sentence three years ago. The Knicks have finally reached the good place, but the work is far from over.