OG Anunoby, Jalen Brunson reached career highs as the Knicks beat the Nuggets

OG Anunoby scored a career-high 40 points, Karl-Anthony Towns had 30 points and 15 rebounds and the visiting New York Knicks used a strong first half to defeat the Denver Nuggets 145-118 on Monday night.

Jalen Brunson had 23 points and 17 assists, a career-high, and Mikal Bridges had 14 points and six assists for New York, which set a season-high in points and set a franchise record with 45 assists. Miles McBride contributed 13 points, Josh Hart had 12 and Cameron Payne finished with 11.

Russell Westbrook scored 24 of his team-high 27 points in the fourth quarter, Nikola Jokic had 22 points, Jamal Murray finished with 20 points, Michael Porter Jr. had 18 points and 10 rebounds and Christian Braun scored 14 points for Denver.

The Nuggets have lost two straight at home.

The Knicks led by two points late in the first quarter, but ended the quarter with a 14-4 run, 36-24, and dominated the second quarter.

After Porter’s short jump made it 39-29, Payne added a three-point play and a 3-pointer around a Towns dunk. Towns then converted a 26-footer to give New York a 50-29 lead.

Anunoby’s floater extended the lead to 23, but Denver went on a 14-5 run to get within 64-50 with 2:52 left in the half. The Knicks finished the game strong, taking a 76-53 lead after Brunson’s three-point play at the end of the second quarter.

Monday marked the second straight home game in which the Nuggets allowed more than 70 points in the first half. They allowed 73 in a 123-120 loss to Dallas on Friday night.

New York extended its lead to 92-67 in the third quarter, and after Denver cut it back to 20, Anunoby converted a three-point play and sank a 3-pointer to make the score 101-77.

Porter gave the Nuggets some life when his three-point play cut the deficit to 19, but Anunoby scored eight points in less than two minutes and Towns hit a layup to give the Knicks a 113-87 lead after three quarters help.

New York led by as many as 30 points in the fourth game and celebrated its fifth win in six games.

–Field level media