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After taking apart two of the hottest teams in the Western Conference, next up for the surging Knicks will be welcoming the challenge of the reigning league MVP.Nuggets center Nikola Jokic, who has earned that award in three of the previous four years, is enjoying his best statistical season — even if Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander widely is considered the MVP favorite for 2024-25.“Obviously he’s a tremendous talent and I’ve been very fortunate to be part of this game of basketball with him for all these years,” All-Star starter Karl-Anthony Towns said of Jokic.“So it’s always great when you get to play the best and he for sure is one of the best that we’ve seen.”The 6-foot-11 Jokic is posting career highs in scoring (30.0 points per game) and assists (10.2) while hauling down 13.1 rebounds per appearance.
That pace would make him only the third player in NBA history to average a triple-double in one season, along with Oscar Robertson (1961-62) and Russell Westbrook, who managed that feat four times in five seasons from 2016-21.The 7-foot Towns spent the first nine seasons of his NBA seasons with the Timberwolves before a September trade to the Knicks, and the five-time All-Star has posted 24.2 points and 11.1 rebounds and 3.8 assists per game in 24 head-to-head games against Jokic.The latter has averaged 19.0 points, 10.3 boards and 5.9 assists in two dozen games versus Towns.“It’s the same way I approach every other game.
Try to be our best, execute our game plan offensively and defensively,” Towns added.Towns and the Knicks (31-16) have been executing at a high level over their current four-game winning streak, including consecutive 143-point outputs in their past two home victories over the Kings and the Grizzlies.After the Nuggets game, the Knicks will face two more teams currently among the top six playoff positions in the West: the Lakers (Saturday night) and the Rockets (Monday).“It’s one game and you want to keep buildin...