NEW YORK — Jalen Brunson is still the king of Manhattan.
No matter how clutch the Nuggets were, no matter how Herculean the effort from Jamal Murray, they were stuck playing from behind until it was too late in a 134-127, costly double-overtime loss to the Knicks on Wednesday.
The Nuggets’ injury nightmare resumed at Madison Square Garden, just when it seemed they were about to wake up. Nikola Jokic gave the bench a brief scare when he hit the deck then limped to the sideline without weight on his left leg again. Spencer Jones went to the locker room with a head injury. Peyton Watson’s night ended when he suddenly reached for his right hamstring in the second half.
The Nuggets (33-19) combined clutch buckets and desperate defensive stops to force both overtimes. In regulation, Murray passed up a potential go-ahead 3-pointer and instead worked his way in to the midrange — where he had been comfortable all fourth quarter — for a game-tying jumper with 13.2 seconds left. Christian Braun helped extend the game to by staying tight on Brunson and contesting his step-back attempt to win it on the ensuing possession.
In the first overtime, they pulled off an even trickier heist. Down two and out of timeouts, Murray got Brunson off the ball, and OG Anunoby was forced to chuck up a grenade at the shot clock buzzer. Denver’s last chance didn’t go as smoothly this time, but after Murray missed a deep three, the officials called a loose-ball foul against New York for preventing Braun from chasing down the rebound as time expired. The foul, review determined, had occurred with 0.3 seconds left. Braun made both free throws in the pressure cooker.
But Brunson was relentless. He kept attacking Murray in space even after Murray picked his pocket, kept landing improbable haymakers. A midrange bank shot. A pull-up three with a hand in his face. Brunson went for 42 points and nine assists. Around him, the Knicks made clutch defensive plays throughout both overtimes, and the Nuggets ran out of gas trying to find the right shots. Defensive-minded center Mitchell Robinson was closing the game for New York after Karl-Anthony Towns fouled out in the first overtime.
The Nuggets were down 16-9 early when Jokic seemingly suffered an injury to the same left leg that already cost him a month of games. This time, he didn’t go to the locker room. He quickly signaled to the coaches that he wanted to continue playing, hopped up and down a few times, then returned to the court. His ankle was wrapped up later on when he subbed out.
In an otherwise clean and workmanlike performance, Jokic struggled to find his touch on pick-and-pop 3s. Cruelest of all was his final attempt of regulation, a catch-and-shoot prayer from way downtown after Denver advanced the ball with less than a second left. His would-be buzzer beater flirted with the backboard and every part of the rim.
Then it spun out. The luck of the bounce continued to oppose the Nuggets on their Eastern Conference back-to-back. Jokic missed 12 of 13 shots from deep on the night.
Suddenly, Adelman was in a pickle. Jokic had already blown past his minutes restriction in regulation for the second consecutive night. He was at 34. But the Nuggets had not lost three straight all season. They were in too deep. Out went Jokic for another opening tip. And so it went in the second overtime. He finished at 44 minutes. They weren’t enough.
Trade deadline eve
This week has turned out to be surprisingly eventful around the NBA despite the lack of momentum toward a Giannis Antetokounmpo deal. While Anthony Davis (Washington) and Coby White (Charlotte) changed teams on Wednesday, the Nuggets remained idle. League sources told The Denver Post as the clock ticked inside of 24 hours that there may be traction on a deal that would have Hunter Tyson on the move, though Denver’s front office has looked into multiple options.
Ben Tenzer and Jon Wallace have until 1 p.m. MT Thursday to complete a salary-shedding trade if they’re going to get under the luxury tax.
“It’s impossible for the players not to be distracted,” Adelman said. “I mean, maybe not some of them that are pretty solidified. But the way money moves around, it’s not just about performance. It’s just about, (some teams) are trying to get under the cap. Some teams are looking forward to draft capital. Nothing really surprises you. So I would imagine there’s anxiety. I think that’s a pretty natural human thing.”
Spencer Jones played his final NBA game of eligibility allowed by his two-way contract Wednesday, after the Nuggets sat him out in Detroit to conserve him for the second night of their back-to-back. Adelman reiterated before the game that he believes Jones to be a rotation-caliber NBA player, and early on, it looked like he wanted to squeeze every second he could get out of Jones. He used a challenge three minutes into the game to overturn a foul that had been called against the 24-year-old wing.
Then in an ironic twist, Jones and Towns bumped heads as the All-Star center tried to drive on Jones. A stoppage followed, with blood on the tracks at Madison Square Garden. KAT’s battle scars were more apparent — he kept playing with a red-stained jersey and a bandage above his right eye — but Jones was sidelined by a contusion, the team said. So ended his two-way clock. The Nuggets won his 12 minutes by two. Now he can no longer play unless his contract is converted to a standard NBA deal.
“We’ll try to figure it out,” Adelman said. “That’s the way the NBA is right now with the two-ways. He’s a unique one because of how much he’s played, and he’s deserved to play as much as he has.”
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