Nuggets Coach Defends Knicks’ Tom Thibodeau Before Blowout

The New York Knicks made sure that no good deed from Denver Nuggets head coach Michael Malone went unpunished on Monday night.

Malone offered some unintentional foreshadowing when the Knicks made their annual descent upon Ball Arena, offering praise for Tom Thibodeau’s work on offense to counter the notion that the New York boss is solely a defensive mind.

“I hope that for all the Tom Thibodeau haters out there who say he doesn’t coach offense just really appreciate their team because, offensively, [the Knicks] are elite,” Malone said (h/t New York Basketball on X). “I think, in almost every offensive category, they’re top five. Field goal, three-point, free throw, offensive efficiency, this team has a lot of weapons. They’re very efficient at everything they do.”

The Knicks were more than happy to back Malone’s points: New York posted one of the most dominant single-game efforts in team history in a 145-118 win, one that saw OG Anunoby (40) and Jalen Brunson (17) posts career-bests in points and assists respectively. The Knicks (10-7) also tied a single-game franchise record for mosts assists with 45 and the 145 points they scored were the most that any NBA team has earned in this young seaosn.

Malone and the Nuggets have been on the receiving end of some sterling metropolitan offensive showings: the Knicks have won four of the last meetings with Denver, including a 112-84 shellacking at Madison Square Garden in January that Malone referred to as a “[butt]-kicking from Jump Street.”

“They’re very efficient at everything they do,” Malone, a Queens native and former Knicks assistant coach, said. “Obviously that starts with Jalen Brunson, one of the best point guards in the league. We know Karl-Anthony Towns very well from all the battles that we’ve had with him in Minnesota. He’s one of the tougher covers in the NBA … he can score anywhere on the court.”

“Then you surround them with guys like OG Anunoby, who is tough, physical, shoots it, cuts, finishes, and is a great defender. Josh Hart [is] a glue guy, and [Mikal] Bridges, who obviously was a big acquisition for them this offseason. They’re a very good team, very well coached.”

Denver will have a chance for revenge when they make their annual trek to Manhattan on Jan. 29. In the meantime, New York faces the Dallas Mavericks on Wednesday night in North Texas (7:30 p.m. ET, ESPN).

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