After taking apart two of the hottest teams in the Western Conference, next up for the surging Knicks will be welcoming the challenge of the reigning league MVP.
Nuggets center Nikola Jokic, who has earned that award in three of the previous four years, is enjoying his best statistical season — even if Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander widely is considered the MVP favorite for 2024-25.
“Obviously he’s a tremendous talent and I’ve been very fortunate to be part of this game of basketball with him for all these years,” All-Star starter Karl-Anthony Towns said of Jokic. “So it’s always great when you get to play the best and he for sure is one of the best that we’ve seen.”
The 6-foot-11 Jokic is posting career highs in scoring (30.0 points per game) and assists (10.2) while hauling down 13.1 rebounds per appearance.
That pace would make him only the third player in NBA history to average a triple-double in one season, along with Oscar Robertson (1961-62) and Russell Westbrook, who managed that feat four times in five seasons from 2016-21.
The 7-foot Towns spent the first nine seasons of his NBA seasons with the Timberwolves before a September trade to the Knicks, and the five-time All-Star has posted 24.2 points and 11.1 rebounds and 3.8 assists per game in 24 head-to-head games against Jokic.
The latter has averaged 19.0 points, 10.3 boards and 5.9 assists in two dozen games versus Towns.
“It’s the same way I approach every other game. Try to be our best, execute our game plan offensively and defensively,” Towns added.
Towns and the Knicks (31-16) have been executing at a high level over their current four-game winning streak, including consecutive 143-point outputs in their past two home victories over the Kings and the Grizzlies.
After the Nuggets game, the Knicks will face two more teams currently among the top six playoff positions in the West: the Lakers (Saturday night) and the Rockets (Monday).
“It’s one game and you want to keep building,” Tom Thibodeau said following Monday’s win. “We had the test with Sacramento and then these guys (the Grizzlies), the same thing.
“But there’s a long way to go. We know we can’t [feel] too good about it. And we got to be ready for Denver. The games keep coming. So enjoy this tonight and tomorrow start getting ready for Denver with the understanding that the focus never changes — it’s always daily improvement. How do we get better tomorrow? And that’s where we have to keep our focus.”
Towns missed two games earlier this month with a right thumb issue, but he posted an efficient 24 points on 9-for-17 shooting in 32 minutes Monday night against Memphis.
“It ain’t the last one,” Towns said when asked about the thumb injury. “I think it’s just getting more comfortable.
“I feel like we’ve gotten two wins by a great margin, and I feel very good when I go home to eat food.”
Thibodeau even rested his starters for much of the fourth quarter in the blowout, and they are 4-0 since he went from an eight-man rotation to nine, adding Landry Shamet to the second unit with Precious Achiuwa, Miles McBride and Cam Payne.
In fact, during the four-game streak, no Knicks player has averaged more than 36 minutes per game after four starters — all but Towns (35.1) — had exceeded that threshold over the previous month.
Towns also was encouraged by sinking 2-for-4 from 3-point range Monday night after missing nine of 10 over his first three games back from the injury.
“Man, it’s been a struggle huh? It was bad. I ain’t gonna lie to you,” Towns said. “I was worried my damn self. Every day. Regardless of what happens, [it’s the] shooters’ mindset. The next one’s [going] in, so just kept shooting the basketball.
“My teammates instill a bunch of confidence in me regardless of what’s happening. And I just wanted to reward them for that kind of trust in me, and happy that I could hit some 3s to give some more spacing on the offensive side.”
