The longest road journey of the season for the Nuggets concluded with an eye poke and a kick in the butt.

Thursday night at Madison Square Garden, Denver fell to the Knicks 122-84, trailing by as many as 38 points and failing to take the lead. The loss snapped Denver’s three-game winning streak. With a 3-2 record, the Nuggets (31-15) conclude a five-game, twelve-day Eastern Conference tour. However, they will depart from Colorado with some degree of injury and the need to recover in order to face Joel Embiid and the 76ers in a rematch on Saturday in the afternoon.

The Knicks humiliate the defending champion Nuggets, while OG Anunoby excels.

With 4:01 remaining in the second quarter, after receiving a prod from Knicks guard Donte DiVincenzo, Nikola Jokic retired to the locker room with a left eye injury. Jokic collapsed to the court in agony, flailing his legs, following the play that cost DiVincenzo a common foul.

The two-time Most Valuable Player remained on the ground with his palms over his face for several minutes before rising, remaining in the game to take free throws, and then leaving. Despite not being substituted for the remainder of the half, he managed to emerge in the second half sporting a mere red-appearing eye.

Jokic contributed to the victory with eleven rebounds, seven turnovers, and thirty-one points. Having missed the fourth quarter with the game out of reach and an afternoon kickoff awaiting in Denver, he completed 13 of 18 from the field. Early on in a blowout reminiscent of the final game of the Nuggets’ other five-game road journey this season, Jokic was the only contributor in the first half. They simply lacked legs. Aaron Gordon missed a shot from beyond the arc until 4:28 into the first quarter, and it was Gordon who completed an open dunk after Jokic completed another no-look, behind-the-back pass.

The Knicks had already trailed 25-10 at that point. As the quarter came to a close, Jokic had accumulated thirteen points and seven rebounds. With a combined 3 for 15 from the field, he contributed five rebounds and eight points for his teammates. Jokic finished the first period of the other long-distance finale, Black Friday in Houston, with 14 points and eight boards, while the remainder of the Nuggets were scoreless at 1 for 16.

23 Camisa on X: “VITRIA DO KNICKS!!! 84 Denver Nuggets New York Knicks #NewYorkForever • Jokic: 31 • Anunoby: 26 PTS • Brunson: 21 PTS and 4 AST #MileHighBasketball

In contrast, Denver consistently exhibited deficiencies in its interior and perimeter defense. Four minutes into the second quarter, the Knicks had completed seven of sixteen attempts from beyond the arc, en route to a 15-for-38 night. They failed one-two point attempts until the final forty seconds of the opening period. They outscored the Nuggets 23-5 on fast breaks and 22-13 on second opportunities on 52.4% shooting.

Anunoby and Brunson guide the Knicks to a 122-84 rout of the Nuggets.

New York is 11-2 following the trade of one of the league’s most versatile defenders, O.G. Anunoby. Fans enthusiastically chanted his initials as the former Toronto Raptor exited the game in the fourth quarter with 26 points and an astounding six thefts. The Nuggets were severely impeded with 20 assists and 19 turnovers, ranking them among the teams with the best assist-to-turnover ratios in the league.

Jalen Brunson scored an additional 21 points on 7-of-10 shooting thirty minutes after narrowly missing the Eastern Conference’s All-Star Game starting lineup announcement.

“Since all NBA players today are on their phones, he would have additional motivation if I said, ‘I don’t believe he’s an NBA (All-Star) player,'” “Therefore, he ought to be an All-Star,” joked Nuggets head coach Michael Malone prior to the contest. “To put it seriously, he is an exceptional performer. His accuracy from the 3-point line is lethal. He arrives at the basket. Extremely nimble and adept at pick-and-rolls… It would be difficult to identify players who surpass him in terms of deservingness of an All-Star position.