DENVER — After Michael Malone described the Knicks as one of the “elite” offensive teams in the NBA, they showed the championship-winning NBA coach why in an explosive and historic display Monday night at Ball Arena.
The Knicks put both facets of their game together — and shared the ball to tie a franchise record with 45 ᴀssists — in easily their most impressive win of the season, 145-118, over Nikola Jokic and the Nuggets.
“That’s what I liked about the game. I thought the team has been very unselfish all year long,” Tom Thibodeau said after the Knicks scored their most points since Nov. 1980 against the Pistons. “We’re creating good sH๏τs, and we’re finding the guy who has a H๏τ hand or a good matchup, but we’re doing it through movement, and that’s everyone working together to create the right sH๏τs. When we do that, we’re an excellent offensive team.”
The H๏τ hand increasingly has become OG Anunoby, who has been lighting up the scoreboard after he was signed to the richest contract in team history over the summer ($212.5 million).
Anunoby continued his November scoring binge with a career-high 40 points on a scorching 16-for-23 from the floor, including five of seven from 3-point range, to spearhead the Knicks’ 60.9 percent shooting display.
“I haven’t seen any splits, but we’re a really good team, so, it was pretty cool,” said Anunoby, who netted a previous season-high of 27 with seven made 3-pointers one game earlier in Saturday’s loss to the Jazz. “I’ve never been on a team like this before.”
Thibodeau’s team also bounced back from a poor defensive effort in Utah, but it was the Knicks’ high-octane offense that stood out again.
They matched their most points scored in one half this season with 76 through the first two quarters, and their 45 ᴀssists matched the franchise mark set in 1979.
Jalen Brunson notched 23 points with a career-high 17 ᴀssists for the Knicks, who will continue their five-game road trip Wednesday night in Dallas.
He became the first Knick since Nate Robinson in 2008-09 to reach at least 20 and 15 in those categories in the same game.
“The ball was going in the hoop and we got off to a good start and didn’t really look back,” Brunson said.
Karl-Anthony Towns remained in the lineup after being listed as questionable following a minus-34 showing in Utah, and he finished with 30 points and 15 rebounds for the Knicks (10-7).
Jokic, the three-time MVP who is averaging a triple-double for the season, was primarily guarded by Towns — and was held to 22 points, seven rebounds and seven ᴀssists in 32 minutes for the Nuggets (9-7).
“We understand what happened at Utah. We wanted to get back to our standards, especially against a team like this,” Towns said. “If anyone knows, I know the MVP. You want to go out there and play your best basketball against the best.
“Defensively, I thought we did a great job showing up tonight and offensively obviously, it was a historical night for our offense. Both sides of the ball were working today.”
Anunoby, who is averaging 21.5 points over 13 November games, drilled his first four sH๏τs (including two 3s) and scored 12 points in the first quarter.
Towns drained a 3-pointer and down-the-lane dunk early in the second, and his second trey extended the cushion to 21 less than three minutes into the quarter.
Towns mostly guarded Jokic, but Anunoby later rejected the six-time All-Star and went the distance for a layup. He also collected a long feed from Josh Hart off a steal for an uncontested dunk to reach 20 points before halftime as the Knicks cruised into intermission ahead, 76-53, matching their highest scoring half of the season.
Anunoby broke free for two more dunks early in the third to push the lead to 26, and the Nuggets never got closer than 17 thereafter.
