Knicks’ dismantling of Nuggets shows they’re legit as team becomes a powerhouse
NY Post
Every now and then you get one of these as a fan, right? You get to see your team at the peak of its powers. You get to see it before a full house, inside a building that’s been longing to show off its acoustic might for years. And every once in a long while, you get to see, and hear, and feel all of this while that team is reducing the reigning world champions to a grease spot.
“We’re a really talented team,” OG Anunoby said in the glorious moments after the Knicks had bulldozed the Nuggets, 122-84, “and we went out and we showed that tonight.”
We’re advancing beyond the point of small-sample-size silliness now. The Knicks are 11-2 since trading for Anunoby and completely repurposing their roster, and three of those wins have come against the Timberwolves, the 76ers and, now, the Nuggets, three established members of the NBA’s high-rent group. They won two of them by more than 30 points, and led in the other by 20 before Minnesota made a late run.
The Knicks aren’t a perfect team by any definition but they seem to fit perfectly, even with key players absent, even as they are beginning to fully recognize the massive influence Anunoby has brought. He’s had a positive plus/minus in all 13 games. He was an astonishing plus-38 Thursday.
“He’s finding a good rhythm, making really good decisions, getting downhill,” Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau said of Anunoby, who had six steals and an almost oh-by-the-way team-high of 26 points, his most as a Knick. “He’s making a lot of good plays for us.”
In truth, they all are. Jalen Brunson scored a ho-hum 21 and added four assists, shaking off his fan-fueled snubbing for a starting gig in the All-Star Game (Josh Hart, master needler: “Yeah. Bleeping loser.”) Julius Randle had a routine 17 points, seven rebounds and eight assists. Donte DiVincenzo and Deuce McBride combined for eight 3s.
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Suddenly, someone had hit a rewind button and everyone had been transported back seven months. It was early spring instead of late fall, it was broiling hot outside the arena walls and not freezing cold. Everyone was back at TD Garden. There were 19,156 frenzied fans on their feet begging for blood, poised for the kill.
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