By Johnny Askounis/ info@eurohoops.net
The New York Knicks blew out the Denver Nuggets, 145-118, in Ball Arena on Monday.
Fueling the team coached by Tom Thibodeau in Denver, British O.G. Anunoby poured in 40 points, a new career-high. The 27-year-old winger tucked in 16/23 field goals, including five three-pointers.
On the court for just under 38 minutes, he also registered five rebounds, four assists, and one block.
For the Nuggets, Serbian Nikola Jokic ended up with 22 points behind 9/20 from the field, seven rebounds, seven assists, and one steal.
“I think you can always learn from games like this. Just what they do, how teams are looking at us, what they did to have a game like this,” he reacted to his side falling to 9-7 in the 2024-25 NBA Regular Season, “It’s always good to get punched in the face, just to wake up.”
“He was right,” he agreed with head coach Michael Malone assessing a lack of effort from his players in several games, “I don’t know, we don’t warm up or don’t wake up or we just don’t play hard enough. I don’t know what it is but collectively we need to do a better job.”
Before the game, Slovenian Vlatko Cancar, out with a left knee sprain, was ruled out indefinitely. “I just feel awful for him right now,” noted Malone.
Croatian teammate Dario Saric stayed on the bench against the Knicks as did German Ariel Hukporti for the winning side. French Pacome Dadiet joined the action for two minutes, tallying one rebound.