OG Anunoby scored a season-high 34 points, Karl-Anthony Towns added 17 points and 13 rebounds and the visiting New York Knicks routed the Denver Nuggets 142-103 on Friday night.
It was New York’s third-largest margin of victory of the season and the worst loss of the season for Denver, which played the second half without Jamal Murray.
Murray, who scored 12 points, rolled his left ankle when he stepped on Nikola Jokic’s foot while backpedaling on defense with 1:05 left in the second quarter.
He was helped off the court and did not return despite being listed as questionable.
Jalen Brunson had just nine points but finished with 15 assists for the Knicks, who used a big second quarter to take control. Josh Hart scored 18 points and Mitchell Robinson contributed 13 off the bench.
Anunoby was six points shy of his career high, which he set in the Knicks’ last visit to Denver on Nov. 25, 2024. He finished 6-for-11 from 3-point range, and the Knicks were 16-for-34 (47.1%) from behind the arc.
Jokic tallied 38 points and eight rebounds, DaRon Holmes II scored 11 points and Cameron Johnson had 10 for the Nuggets, who started their opening-night lineup for the first time since Nov. 12 with Aaron Gordon’s return from a hamstring injury.
Gordon had three points in his first game since Jan. 23, but the lineup didn’t last a half.
Murray’s injury capped a bad second quarter for Denver, which was outscored 38-23 and missed all seven of its shots from behind the arc. The Nuggets missed their final 11 3-point shots of the first half and 17 in a row until Jokic drained one with 3:17 left in the third quarter.
Denver finished 8-for-40 (20%) from deep.
By then, New York was cruising to an easy victory. Denver was within 80-68 and had a chance to cut it to 10 but Johnson missed a layup. Anunoby drained one of his six 3-pointers at the other end, sparking a 12-2 run that made it 92-70 late in the third quarter.
New York led 105-80 heading into the fourth and went up by as much as 42.
–Field Level Media
