The Denver Nuggets will look to keep their spot on top of the Western Conference on New Year’s Day when they host the lowly New York Knicks.
The Denver Nuggets are tied with the Golden State Warriors as the top team in the Western Conference.
Let that sentence sink in for a minute.
No one, and we mean no one, would have ever believed before the season that the run-and-gun Nuggets would enter 2019 on top of a loaded West. Now, they were marked to be playoff contenders, yes, but best in the West? No one saw this coming, except, of course, the Nuggets.
Denver (23-11) will enter the New Year looking to separate themselves from Golden State and stand along on top of the West when they entertain the lowly New York Knicks at the Pepsi Center.
Speaking of the Pepsi Center, the talented Nuggets, led by unicorn center Nikola Jokic and star guard Jamal Murray, have greatly used the altitude and their boisterous home crowd to their advantage, running up a 14-3 record at home, including winning their last eight on their home floor.
All of this doesn’t particularly add to success for the Knicks (9-28), who are second-to-last in the East and are terrible on the road, winning just five of 21 games away from Madison Square Garden thus far. They began a five-game trip out west with a listless 129-97 loss at the hands of the up-and-down Utah Jazz and will have stops at the Lakers, Trail Blazers, and Warriors before heading back home.
In short, this is going to be a mighty tough road trip for New York, but it’s not like their playing for anything other than pride. They’ve long bowed out of the playoff hunt.
This game in Denver, however, may mean something to point guard Emmanuel Muiday, who was once seen as the future in Denver before being traded to the Knicks. So, he will be looking to show the Nuggets just what they missed out on.
This is the first of two meetings between these two teams this season.
Knicks at Nuggets live stream details
When: Tuesday, Jan. 1
Time: 9 pm EST/7 pm MST
Where: Denver, CO
Venue: Pepsi Center
TV Info: MSG (Knicks), Altitude Sports (Nuggets)
Live Stream: Fubo.tv (free seven-day trial), NBA League PassÂ
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