Game Preview: Knicks vs Nuggets, 12/5/2019

Back in the city, the Knicks (4-17) are gasping for air in every way. They just got pummeled by the Bucks and now they take on a Denver Nuggets team (13-5) that has managed to play pretty well despite their star center, Nikola Jokic, coming into the season out of shape and continuing to play that way through their first 18 games. Signs of life are certain to pulse through the Garden as they lance all of New York’s defensive boils.

With each passing game it gets harder to imagine a future with David Fizdale as the skipper. The guy knows what people want to hear but has no concept how to implement a top-down identity. He seems to want to hide behind a player that is a system unto themselves. Is it possible too many years of his coaching experience were spent as a people pleaser surrounded by the transcendence of Dwyane Wade and LeBron James? Gee, I dunno.

Projected Starters

Frank Ntilikina, Marcus Morris and Elfrid Payton are all listed as questionable for David Fizdale and the Piss Pails. I’m sure Fiz bucket will waste no chance to get Elf off the shelf and dump Ntilikina to the back end of the rotation. Somewhere stuck behind oh I dunno.... Pat Sullivan and Mike Miller. Maybe stuck between stations on the shuttle in Times Square for eternity. I wonder if we’ll ever find out who stuck that knife in Frank’s back.

Speaking of wonder. You ever wonder who will last longer between A) Steve Mills and Frank Ntilikina or B) Scott Perry and Elfrid Payton? I wonder this all the time. I worry that Mills gets shit canned (I know, I know) and then Perry runs the team into the ground for a while, trading Ntilikina almost immediately. Perry gets disappeared within the next few years and Mills is brought back into the fold. Meanwhile Frank is firmly planted on the next ten or twelve All Defense teams for Milwaukee who molds him into the Malcom Brogdon 9000.

The Nuggets will be without Bol Bol. Tragic.

Keys & Predictions

Man. You thought George Hill and the Bucks back cut Allonzo Trier into an early grave. Wait til you see the Nuggets disembowel the Knicks defense.

OK, sure. Good luck, team of disengaged off-ball defenders.

This will be a cinch.

Something tells me this game is gonna get Jokic back on track after having struggled through the first quarter of the season. He’ll probably ease off the gas for a little while after, but this one will get him going. Mitchell Robinson will get four fouls in the first half. Bobby Portis will not have any concept of what to do with Jerami Grant. And the complete scrub that will set it off against the Knicks is Michael Porter Jr. He’ll toss in 19 points on six shots. Mostly walking, with a few little half gallops into open triplicates.

Knicks by -48.

Warm Up Music

Well it’s been tough times in the city that deprives you of sleep. It makes me long for a simpler time. Back when I could look out across the NBA landscape and see the mountains cascading over the plains.

You tell me, but I think this song is about a lover who committed suicide by jumping off a cliff. I don’t want to place anyone in the story but somehow that’s the Knicks and you or me.