After a streak of 10 consecutive losses, the New York Knicks now have two wins in a row. They beat the Golden State Warriors 124-122 in overtime and the Sacramento Kings 103-101 on the road. This is the first time since last season that the Knicks have won two games in a row. It's hard to say if this is just a temporary breakthrough or if the team has really started to play better since Mike Miller took over as head coach, but in any case, given that the potential of this team is not high, winning two games in a row on the road is a bit surprising. Meanwhile, the Denver Nuggets have played their last two games at home and have defended their home walls quite confidently. A 114-99 thrashing of the Portland Trail Blazers was followed by a 110-102 victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder. Will the Nuggets be able to extend their winning streak at home, or will the Knicks be able to surprise and take home a win from Denver?
Denver Nuggets
This will be the second game in a row for the Denver Nuggets. Last night, the Nuggets beat the Oklahoma City Thunder 110-102. The main contributor to the victory was Serbian Nikola Jokic, who seems to be getting in better shape lately. In the game against the Thunder, Jokić added 28 points, 14 rebounds and 12 assists, while all five players who started the game scored double-digit points.
TOP Betting Companies for NBA bets
Of course, it's still early in the season and a lot of things will change, but the interesting thing is that the Nuggets are playing much better and more productive when the pace of the games is higher. NBA.com According to the data, the Dever Nuggets are the second-ranked team in the NBA in terms of pace of play, and the team's offence is also disappointing. Overall, the Denver Nuggets rank just 18th in the league in offensive efficiency, scoring 107.2 points per game. Denver has won only 7 of the 12 meetings it has played when it has less than 98 possessions per game, scoring 106.6 points and holding a +2.2 point advantage. By comparison, the Nuggets have won 8 of their last 11 games by an average of 108.4 points and an average margin of victory of 7.6 points after stepping up the pace and making more than 98 attempts per game.
The Nuggets are also one of the best defending teams in the league, averaging just 102.5 points per game, which ranks them 2nd in the league.
Denver Nuggets leaders:
Nikola Jokic - 16.7 points, 10.2 rebounds, 6.5 assists The start of this season has not been the most successful one for this big man, considering the hopes that were placed on him. Anyway, Jokic's recent form seems to have improved, and since the Nuggets' success is unthinkable without a good game from the Serb, Nuggets fans should be happy.
Jamal Murray - 17 points, 4.3 rebounds These are the stats of the player who promised to represent Team Canada at the Olympics. As for the Nuggets, the start of the season has been less than assured, but there are no questions about the potential of this player and Murray's game should only improve as the season progresses.
Will Barton - The guard, who has surprisingly become one of the Nuggets' main weapons, is averaging 15 points, 6.7 rebounds and 3.4 assists per game. Barton is a great offensive and defensive defender, so it's no wonder that his importance to the team continues to grow with each season.
New York Knicks:
The Knicks finally showed signs of life after a rough start to the season. The 103-101 away win over the Kings was the second in a row for the New York Knicks, with Elfrid Payton contributing the most, scoring almost half of his points in the 4th quarter. The Knicks were trailing by as many as 16 points at one point in that game, but thanks to the efforts of Julius Randle (26 points, 9 rebounds) and Marcus Morris, they were able to come back and win the game.
Elfrid Payton is slowly becoming one of the most important players in the team after his injury return, and the new coach seems to be impressed by him. Payton gets along well with all the players and is described as a good teammate, so his integration into the team after his injury could also have been a major contributor to the Knicks finally starting to win games.
The New York Knicks have now won 2 games in a row and have a total of 2 wins and 2 losses since the firing of David Fizdale. With the change of coach and Mike Miller at the helm, the Knicks have started to show more desire to win, especially at the end of games. It's hard to say if the new coach's strategies worked or if it was just the conversations in the locker room, but the situation is changing for the better. One of the moments that underlined this was the 4th period against the Kings. The Knicks, who have been characterised by poor defence in the 4th period this season, managed to stop the Kings who scored only 21 points in the 4th period, while shooting 36.4% from the field.
New York Knicks leaders:
Marcus Morris - 18.6 points, 5.8 rebounds The scandalous transfer of this forward to the Knicks after reneging on his deal with the Spurs was one of the most gossiped moments of the off-season. However, Morris has a lot of freedom on this team, so he can put up better stats and sign a more lucrative contract next season, so the more he goes on, the less questions this decision raises.
Julius Randle - 17.3 points, 8.7 rebounds The forward, who is collecting 7.7 points and 3.5 rebounds per game, has struggled at the beginning of the season, but the further he goes, the harder it becomes to stop. Randle mentioned that if Payton hadn't gotten injured, his integration into the Knicks' game would have been much smoother, but obviously Randle's stats should improve by the end of the season.
R.J. Barrett - The rookie with 14 points, 5.4 rebounds and 3.1 assists per game hasn't really been shining as expected so far. The guard selected as the third pick in the 2019 NHL Entry Draft has the freedom to reach his full potential, but he is struggling to find his feet and hopefully this is just a first season uncertainty.
Forecast
The Knicks should go into this game with confidence after two consecutive wins. However, they will face one of their toughest road trips in Denver, where the Nuggets have lost just 3 times this season. Statistically, the Knicks always have problems on the road against the Nuggets, as they have won 11 games in a row without winning in Denver since the 2006 season. Although this will be the second game in two nights for the Nuggets, the team has enough players in the rotation to handle one of the Eastern Conference outsiders at home with confidence.
Denver Nuggets, -10, 1.85 kof, betsafe.
More sport analyses click here.
EN 
LT 
DE 
FR 
SV 
ES 
IT 
FI 
LV 
SK 
SL 
TR