Knicks beat slumping Nuggets to capture 5th win in a row

NEW YORK (AP) — Jalen Brunson had 30 points and 15 assists, OG Anunoby scored 23 points and the New York Knicks beat the Denver Nuggets 122-112 on Wednesday night for their fifth straight victory.

Karl-Anthony Towns had 14 points, 10 rebounds, and five assists for New York. The Knicks who had a strong start aided by Nikola Jokic's early foul trouble, then used a late spurt to pull away for good.

Jamal Murray scored 33 points for the Nuggets, who fell to 0-3 on their five-game trip. Jokic finished with 17 points, six rebounds and six assists, and Russell Westbrook had 14 points and 14 rebounds.

Jokic picked up two fouls in the first 1 1/2 minutes and went to the bench just over two minutes into the game after Anunoby blew by him to start a 15-0 run that gave the Knicks an 18-6 lead. Jokic didn't return until 7:14 remained in the first half and the NBA leader with 21 triple-doubles didn't reach double figures in any category until the fourth quarter.

Takeaways

Nuggets: Denver has given up 133, 129 and now 122 points to start the road trip, and it's hard to win anywhere with that kind of defense.

Knicks: New York had reached 140 points in consecutive games for the first time since 1965-66. The Knicks weren't quite as good Wednesday, but 122 points and nearly 52% shooting will win plenty of games.

Key moment

Jokic and Aaron Gordon made consecutive 3-pointers to get Denver within four with about 5 1/2 minutes left, but the Knicks got eight of the next 10 points to reopen a double-digit lead.

Key stat

New York pushed the ball at every opportunity, finishing with 25 fast-break points and 23 off turnovers.

Up next

The Nuggets visit Philadelphia on Friday night. The Knicks host the Los Angeles Lakers on Saturday night.

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