Knicks Can’t Keep Up with Nuggets in Denver

After a double-overtime loss and a late flight into the thin air of Denver, the Knicks were playing on fumes Saturday night against the Nuggets at the Pepsi Center. Their fatigue was obvious, as even though they had all of their players back in the lineup, the Knicks could not match a well-rested, up-temp Denver team and fell 115-83.

The Nuggets led the game from wire-to-wire, thanks largely to their two superstars, who were both on top of their games on Saturday. Both Allen Iverson and Carmelo Anthony made early departures with their team up by 25 points, they certainly did their damage in combining for 47 of Denver’s 115 points.

Anthony (24 points) and Iverson (23 points) took the game over early. The Nuggets grabbed an eight-point first quarter lead, and Anthony and Iverson carried the team, scoring 26 of the Nuggets’ 30 first-quarter points. The speedy, energetic Nuggets were a rough opponent for the Knicks to have to face at the tail-end of a long West Coast road trip.

“It’s going to be a track meet,” Knicks Assistant Coach Herb Williams said before the game. “Allen Iverson is going to be pushing the ball up and down, Carmelo Anthony is going to be running. Those two guys are real tough covers, so you can’t worry about last night because if you do, AI or Carmelo is going to have big numbers.”

Williams proved to be right, although this game was very different from the last time the two teams met on Nov. 6 at Madison Square Garden. In that game, the Knicks fell behind by 15 at the half but fought back for a victory, sparked by Renaldo Balkman’s defensive efforts against Anthony, which changed the tenor of the game.

On Saturday, the Knicks were down by 18 after 24 minutes, but there was no stopping Anthony this time, and no comeback for New York. Balkman fouled out in only 12 minutes, Anthony had nine points in the second half before being benched with more than a full quarter remaining in the game.

Denver won its fifth in a row. At 7-3, the Nuggets are off to their best start in over a decade.