By ASSOCIATED PRESS
DENVER (AP) — OG Anunoby scored a career-high 40 points, Jalen Brunson had 17 of New York’s team record-tying 45 assists and the Knicks rode a torrid start to a 145-118 rout of the Denver Nuggets on Monday night, Nov. 25.
Brunson had 23 points to go with his career-best assist performance. The Knicks’ 45 assists matched the single-game team record set against Cleveland on Nov. 24, 1979.
New York led by 12 after the first, 23 at halftime and by many as 30 points on a night the team shot a sizzling 60.9% from the floor. The starters for the Knicks played late in the game despite the large lead.
Karl-Anthony Towns was a game-time decision with a sore calf, but came up big with 30 points and 15 rebounds.
Reserve Russell Westbrook had 27 points and Nikola Jokic finished with 22 points along with a season-low seven rebounds for Denver.
In San Francisco, Dennis Schroder scored 31 points, Cam Thomas added 23 and the undermanned Brooklyn Nets rallied to beat Stephen Curry and the Golden State Warriors, 128-120.
Curry made a 3-pointer with 3:26 left and pulled the Warriors within three, but Golden State couldn’t make the crucial stops and squandered an 18-point lead. Curry scored 28, and Andrew Wiggins added 18 points.
Schroder’s 3 with 11:10 remaining tied the game at 92, and he put his team ahead with another at the 9:43 mark.
Jalen Wilson had 18 points for the short-handed Nets in a road back-to-back after a 108-103 win at Sacramento a night earlier.
Schroder missed Sunday’s game at Sacramento with right ankle soreness but returned for Brooklyn, which jumped ahead 9-2 before a Warriors timeout and ensuing run got the home team going.
The Warriors, coming off a 10-point loss at San Antonio on Saturday, dropped to 5-2 at home and 12-5 overall.
Meanwhile in Sacramento, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander had 37 points and the Oklahoma City Thunder’s bench players combined for 40 points in a 130-109 win that extended the Kings’ losing streak to four.
Jalen Williams scored 28 points and Isaiah Hartenstein returned from a stint on the injured list with 17 points for the Thunder.
DeMar DeRozan scored 19 points in the first half and finished the game with 30 for the Kings. The Kings bench scored half of what the Thunder’s bench did, and Sacramento shot just 25% from 3-point range.
In Memphis, Ja Morant had 22 points and 11 assists in his return to the lineup after missing eight games with a hip injury, leading the Grizzlies to a 123-98 victory over the Portland Trail Blazers.
Morant shot 6 fo 12 from the field, including 2 for 3 from 3-point range. Jaren Jackson Jr. scored 21 points, and Santi Aldama finished with 13 points and a career-high 17 rebounds.
Deni Avdija led Portland with 17 points, eight rebounds and six assists. Shaedon Sharpe added 15 points for the Trail Blazers, who lost for the third time in four games.
In Dallas, Kyrie Irving had 32 points, six assists and seven rebounds, and the Mavericks beat the Atlanta Hawks, 129-119, without star Luka Doncic.
Jaden Hardy had a season-high 23 points in his first start of the season for Dallas, which has won five of six. Naji Marshall and Spencer Dinwiddie had 22 points each.
Irving had 10 points at halftime after being stifled by Hawks guard Dyson Daniels but heated up in the second half, including a stretch where he hit five consecutive field goals.
Doncic missed his third straight game with a right wrist strain.
