The Knicks are still looking for answers to defensive struggles ahead of the Nikola Jokic test

DENVER — The Knicks’ mile-high defensive woes won’t get any easier Monday night when they face potential three-time winner Nikola Jokic and the Nuggets.

The three-time NBA MVP may somehow be having the best statistical season of his 10-year NBA career, ranking first in the league in rebounding (13.7 per game) and second in both scoring (30.3 ) and assists (11.1) per his team’s first 16 appearances.

All three of those numbers would represent career highs for Jokic, who missed three games earlier this month due to the birth of his son.

The six-time All-Star is also averaging a career-best 38.1 minutes per game. game this season, second only to Knicks wing Mikal Bridges (38.3) through Saturday’s action.

Bridges was actually benched by Tom Thibodeau for the final 10:03 of Saturday’s loss at Utah, finishing with season-lows in minutes (33), points (seven) and field-goal percentage (3-for-15 ).

Fellow newcomer Karl-Anthony Towns, who will draw the primary defensive assignment against Jokic, also had a tough game on both ends of the floor. Although KAT grabbed 16 rebounds against the Jazz, the starting center missed eight of nine 3-point attempts and finished the game with a whopping minus-34 defensive rating.

Thibodeau and the players who spoke to the media afterward — Bridges, Josh Hart and Jalen Brunson — lamented the team’s poor defensive effort instead of a rocky shooting night (39.0 percent overall) for their first loss in five games.

“I think we just need to stop and communicate with each other a little bit more,” said Bridges, who was benched down the stretch in favor of veteran reserve Cam Payne. “I think it’s tough, we’re not the only team, but it’s just human nature sometimes when you miss shots and let down a little bit and your voice kind of goes away.

“So we just have to get past that and still communicate with each other. We can’t miss and then let it destroy our defense. If we miss, it has to turn us up even more on the other end. We just have to be better at that. “

The 7-foot Towns certainly needs to be better defensively against a player of Jokic’s caliber.

Thibodeau even acknowledged after Saturday’s game that he considered inserting backup Jericho Sims at center in the fourth quarter after he posted a plus-19 in nine minutes earlier in the game, including part of the 17-0 run in the third quarter that pulled the Knicks within two.

The Knicks have clearly sacrificed interior defense after the free departure of Isaiah Hartenstein and the recent injury to Mitchell Robinson. The trade-off is that Towns, a four-time All-Star, leads the team in scoring (26.1 ppg) and rebounds (12.5) in 15 appearances.

Still, the Knicks (9-7) ranked 21st in the NBA through Saturday in defensive rating with 115.7 points allowed per possession. 100 possessions, which Hart called “a recipe for disaster” Saturday night.

“We’re just not playing well enough,” said Hart, who was a team-worst minus-37 at Utah. “We’re not physical enough. We’re not putting enough pressure on the ball, myself included.

“We’ve got to figure that out. We can’t just be an offensive team and that’s what we’ve been in the first (16) games. And when you have games like this where you’re not shooting well and doesn’t figure it out offensively, it looks bad.”

The 29-year-old Jokic could become the first player in NBA history to lead the league in both assists and rebounds per game in the same season. Wilt Chamberlain led the league in total boards and assists in 1967-68, but he trailed Oscar Robertson in assists per game. match.