Knicks at Nuggets
The New York Knicks have the worst record in the NBA as they open up a five-game road trip against the Denver Nuggets on Monday. New York only has 12 victories and one of them came against the Nuggets on Nov. 16 when the Knicks posted a 109-93 victory. Denver also is experiencing a long season and recently fired second-year coach Brian Shaw and has gone 2-2 under interim coach Melvin Hunt.
Denver suffered a 114-100 loss to the Houston Rockets on Saturday in the opener of a tough four-game homestand. New York is the easy mark but the final two opponents are the top two teams in the NBA as the Nuggets host the Atlanta Hawks on Wednesday and the Golden State Warriors on Friday. The Knicks have lost three straight games and guard Tim Hardaway Jr. could be in jeopardy of sitting out against Denver after missing all nine field-goal attempts and scoring one point in 21 minutes while having back issues.
TV: 9 p.m. ET, MSG (New York), Altitude (Denver)
ABOUT THE KNICKS (12-49): It has been a rough first season for coach Derek Fisher and some observers feel the team will bring in a whole crop of new players next season. If so, that means teaching several players the triangle system offense the Knicks use and, in essence, starting over. “No, I don’t think so, because a lot of the progress that has been made internally in terms of what we are doing inside of this building, those things will be in place already,” Fisher told reporters. “So any new players joining our team going forward, they will be walking into something completely different than what guys walked into in September of 2014.”
ABOUT THE NUGGETS (22-41): Forward Danilo Gallinari cited tired legs as he was just 3-of-15 shooting in the loss to the Rockets. “We were a little tired maybe, the four games in five nights,” Gallinari told reporters. “I don’t want to use that as an excuse. They were better than us.” One player who excelled was forward Wilson Chandler, who scored 26 points on 11-of-15 shooting while recording his 10th 20-point outing of the season.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. Denver has won its last six home games against the Knicks.
2. PF/C Jason Smith started in place of PF Lou Amundson (back) in Saturday's loss to Indiana for New York’s 31st different starting lineup of the season.
3. Nuggets C Jusuf Nurkic (ankle) has missed six straight games.