The 48-21 Denver Nuggets will host the 41-27 New York Knicks tonight at Ball Arena. It’s a battle of championship hopefuls. Denver is currently the West’s No. 2 seed and the prohibitive favorite to defend its crown from last summer. New York is the fourth seed in the East, and looking to advance further than its second round finish last season. Neither team is whole, though one is much closer than the other!
According to the NBA’s latest injury report, the Knicks will be the worse for wear when it comes to critical, ailment-related absences this evening. New York will be without forwards OG Anunoby, who has suffered a setback with his surgically-repaired right elbow, and All-Star Julius Randle, who’s been out since January 27th with a dislocated right shoulder. Center Mitchell Robinson has missed all but 21 contests for New York this season due to a left ankle surgery, though he is reportedly slowly ramping up his efforts in a bid for a regular season return.
Denver will be missing backup small forward Vlatko Cancar, who’s still recuperating from his left knee surgery. Reserve power forward/center Zeke Nnaji is merely questionable with low back pain. Two-way players Collin Gillespie and Jay Huff are away from the team, playing its NBAGL affiliate, the Grand Rapids Gold.
Two months ago, the Knicks slaughtered Denver, 122-84. Tonight’s rematch, their final meeting of the 2023-24 regular season, is slated to tip off at 6 p.m. PT/9 p.m. ET. It’s available to watch via NBA League Pass, Altitude in Denver, and MSG TV in New York.
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The Nuggets are -8.5 point favorites to protect their home floor this evening, according to betting aggregator The Action Network. That’s not a bad call. Denver is tough to beat at home, which is perhaps as it should be for a club that numbers among the league’s elite. Denver is 27-6 on its home floor thus far this season. The Knicks are a pretty good road team, it’s worth mentioning. They own a 19-14 away game record.
The scrappy Knicks, even with their recent litany of long-term absences of late, have managed to string together some wins behind the strong play of All-Star point guard Jalen Brunson, who’s absorbed some extra scoring burden recently. New York is riding high on a four-game win streak, and has won six of its last ten bouts. During the win streak, he’s averaged 35.3 points on .526/.378/.844 shooting splits, 5.5 assists, 3.5 rebounds, 1.8 steals and 0.5 blocks per game, in a very reasonable-for-Tom Thibodeau 34.1 minutes.
Uncommon Knowledge
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.