The Knicks fought back from a big deficit in the second half, but fell to the Denver Nuggets, 89-86, to wrap up their Summer League season on Saturday night in Las Vegas.
Here are some takeaways…
– Denver got out to a 15-0 lead in the first quarter, as New York started the game 0-for-11 from the field (0-for-5 from three). QJ Peterson got the Knicks on the board with a free throw, and then followed that up with a pull-up jumper to make it an 18-3 game.
The Knicks trailed 21-9 after the first, as they shot just 18.2 percent (4-for-22) and went 0-for-7 from deep. Julian Strawther led the Nuggets with eight points, while Justin Hamilton scored four points off the bench for NY.
– New York began to turn things around in the second, as Trevor Keels scored and then found Michael Foster Jr. for a layup to cut the lead to 27-18 with about seven minutes left in the quarter. The Nuggets then went on a quick 7-0 run to push the lead back to double digits.
Denver outscored New York 26-23 in the second, and led 47-32 at halftime.
– Keels got off to a strong start in the third by scoring seven straight, but the Knicks still trailed 54-41. Strawther would hit a three for the Nuggets, and then Andrew Funk got going with two three-pointers to push the Denver lead to 68-47.
The Knicks finished the third strong, as Keels scored inside, Dmytro Skapintsev nailed a three and scored on a layup with three seconds left. David Shriver stole a bad pass from Strawther and hit a deep three at the buzzer, as the Knicks trailed 70-57 heading into the fourth.
– New York opened the fourth on an 11-0 run, as Peterson scored seven straight, and then both Marcus Garrett and Hamilton scored to make it a 70-68 game. Strawther and Hamilton traded three-pointers, and after baskets for both teams, Peterson gave the Knicks a 76-75 lead with just under five minutes left in the game.
Peterson nailed another three to put the Knicks up one and then made two free throws to give the team an 83-81 lead. Hunter Tyson put Denver back up with a three, but Khalid Moore scored to give the Knicks a 85-84 lead with 45 seconds remaining. Tyson was fouled on a three-pointer and would make all three to give Denver an 87-86 lead with 21 seconds left. Peterson missed the go-ahead layup and the Knicks were forced to foul.
– New York outscored Denver 29-19 in the fourth quarter, but it was too little, too late. Peterson finished with a team-high 25 points, Foster added 17 points and Keels had 15 points. Hamilton scored 11 off the bench in 25 minutes. Strawther led the Nuggets with 25 points.