San Francisco Chronicle - (Sunday)
Nuggets’ Jokic uses time well
Nikola Jokic scored 32 points and had 11 rebounds in just 27 minutes, leading the Denver Nuggets over the host New York Knicks 113-99 Saturday.
Denver never trailed in winning for only the third time in 10 games. “Winning is the best medicine,” Nuggets coach Michael Malone said.
Zeke Nnaji added 21 points off the bench for the Nuggets, Will Barton contributed 13 and Jeff Green 11.
The Knicks have lost three straight.
“We (got to) look ourselves in the mirror and decide what we want the season to be,” Julius Randle said after leading the Knicks with 24 points on 9for-18 shooting. “We have to commit to it.”
Evan Fournier chipped in 15 points, R.J. Barrett added 13 and Alec Burks and Derrick Rose each had 11 for New York.
“I say it all year (and) I’ll continue to say it: We’re going to win games with our defense,” Randle added. “That’s who we are.”
The Nuggets led 30-24 after the first quarter and were up 60-49 at halftime. During the second quarter, the Nuggets led by as many as 16, which caused the home crowd to grow surly.
After New York cut its deficit to six in the third period, Green and Jokic responded with layups on consecutive possessions to push the advantage to 73-63. The layups sparked 23-8 run, including 12 points by Jokic, as Denver made it 92-71.
“There were a lot of looks on 3s just because of how much they were helping inside,” Nnaji said.
Denver’s lead grew to 30 on JaMychal Green’s hook shot midway through the fourth. The Nuggets shot 53% from the field (44 for 84) and 47.6% from 3 (20 for 43) while limiting the Knicks to 40.2% shooting from the field (35 for 88) and 30.8% (12 for 40) on 3s.
“I felt they were out of sync,” said Davon Reed, who had nine points and four assists for the Knicks. “We know they’re a heavy (isolation) team. We had shots we wanted to force them to take. … They were definitely getting frustrated and we were locked in.”
The game marked a homecoming for Malone, who was an assistant on the Jeff Van Gundy-era Knicks squads, and counts Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau as a friend.
Grizzlies 97, Mavericks 90: Desmond Bane scored a careerhigh 29 points, and visiting Memphis held on to beat Dallas in its first game since setting an NBA record with a 73-point victory.
Celtics 145, Trail Blazers 117: Jayson Tatum and Dennis Schroder each contributed 31 points as Boston topped host Portland. Enes Freedom grabbed 15 rebounds.
Kings 104, Clippers 99: Terence Davis scored 28 points as host Sacramento beat Los Angeles.
Bucks 124, Heat 102: Pat Connaughton scored 23 points and Kris Middleton had 22 points and nine assists as host Milwaukee won.
Bulls 111, Nets 107: Zach LaVine had 31 points, eight rebounds and six assists as visiting Chicago defeated Brooklyn. Demar DeRozan added 29 points and six rebounds. Kevin Durant had 28 points and 10 rebounds for the Nets.