The Knicks were finally whole again Thursday night.
And it still couldn’t save them from a repeat embarrassment.
Coming off a 44-point loss to the Bucks on Monday, the Knicks fell flat on their faces again for an eighth straight loss, getting crushed by the Nuggets 129-92 at the Garden.
The Nuggets (14-5) led by as many as 43 points as the Knicks (4-18) waded further into misery.
On Wednesday, embattled coach David Fizdale had claimed the Bucks loss was a “perfect thing” for the Knicks before taking on another powerhouse. They had a chance to “come back and answer the bell,” Fizdale said.
Except the Knicks never seemed to wake up from the nightmare, turning what they insisted was one bad night into two bad nights as Fizdale’s seat grew hotter.
The Nuggets entered the night with as the 24th-ranked 3-point shooting team in the NBA (34.5 percent), but the Knicks let them catch fire from downtown, draining 21 of 38 3-pointers.
The Knicks did have a solid first few minutes, taking an 18-12 lead on back-to-back corner 3s from Marcus Morris and RJ Barrett. But the Nuggets leaned on their strong 3-point shooting — 6 of 10 in the first quarter — to regain the lead. They ended the first quarter on a 9-0 run to lead 33-27 after one.
Kevin Knox got the crowd’s attention for all the right reasons early in the second quarter when he blocked Juan Hernangomez’s dunk attempt on a two-on-one fast break, then got back and drained a 3 to pull the Knicks within 38-37.
But it all went awry from there for the Knicks. The Nuggets took control with a 23-1 run to push their lead into double digits for good. The Knicks went cold from the floor during that stretch, going 6:15 without a field goal and shooting 0-for-7 with four turnovers.
The Nuggets went into the half with a 67-45 lead — only slightly better for the Knicks than the 27-point deficit they faced at halftime Monday against the Bucks. Denver shot 11-for-18 from 3 in the first half.
As the deficit grew in the third quarter, so did the boos. The Nuggets led 98-75 entering the fourth quarter, and that was only after the Knicks had scored a couple buckets to trim the Nuggets’ lead down from 30.
The Knicks added injury to insult when they lost Damyean Dotson midway through the second quarter. The guard went in for a steal and instead dislocated his left pinkie finger, coming up in serious pain. After a trainer appeared to try, unsuccessfully, to pop it back in on the sideline, Dotson went to the locker room and did not return.
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