The New York Knicks’ (5-4, 2-2 at home) mini three-game homestand will conclude on Sunday night when they take on the Denver Nuggets (4-5, 2-1 on the road) at Madison Square Garden.

After starting out of the gates slow with a 1-4 start, Denver has rebounded to win three of their last four outings. On Saturday, they took care of business against the short-handed Philadelphia 76ers with a 115-103 victory. Six players scored at least 12 points for the Nuggets, led by Gary Harris’ 21.

Winners of three straight entering Friday, the Knicks put together a subpar performance as they fell to the Oklahoma City Thunder by 101-89.

It was an ugly shooting performance all around for New York as they shot just 35.8 percent from the field, 33.3 percent from three-point territory, and 60 percent from the charity stripe. Julius Randle once again filled up the box score in the loss with 18 points, 12 rebounds, and seven assists.

Injury report

  • Denver: Out - Michael Porter Jr. (health and safety protocols), Greg Whittington (knee)
  • New York: Out - Alec Burks (ankle), Taj Gibson (not yet with the team), Frank Ntilikina (knee), Obi Toppin (calf), Probable - Kevin Knox (knee)

Team leaders

  • Denver: Points - Nikola Jokic 24.3, Rebounds - Nikola Jokic 11.3, Assists - Nikola Jokic 11.0, Steals - Nikola Jokic 1.3, Blocks - Michael Porter Jr. 1.5
  • New York: Points - Julius Randle 22.6, Rebounds - Julius Randle 12.0, Assists - Julius Randle 7.3, Steals - Mitchell Robinson 1.6, Blocks - Mitchell Robinson 2.0

Team projected starters

  • Denver: PG - Jamal Murray, SG - Gary Harris, SF - Will Barton, PF - Paul Millsap, C - Nikola Jokic
  • New York: PG - Elfrid Payton, SG - RJ Barrett, SF - Reggie Bullock, PF - Julius Randle, C - Mitchell Robinson

Team rankings

  • Denver: Scoring - 116.8 (5th of 30 teams), Scoring defense - 115.4 (23rd)
  • New York: Scoring - 102.7 (28th), Scoring defense - 104.1 (2nd)

Things to be aware of

  • According to Land of Basketball, Nikola Jokic is tied with Russell Westbrook for the most triple-doubles thus far in the season with four. Amazingly, he has had three other games this season where he fell just one rebound shy of a triple-double.
  • Tom Thibodeau has the Knicks much-improved on the defensive end this season, and Denver will test that improvement on Sunday. According to NBA Team Rankings, the Nuggets have the third-best field goal percentage (48.9) in the NBA, while New York has the second-best field goal percentage allowed (43.4).
  • In the Knicks’ five wins this season, Elfrid Payton is shooting 51.9 percent from the field while averaging 19.2 points and 6.4 assists. In their four losses, those numbers dip all the way down to 34.1 percent, 9.3, and 2.3, respectively.
© ALL RIGHTS RESERVED