The Nuggets came to the Garden on Thursday night as the NBA’s 24th-ranked 3-point shooting team.
The Knicks were just the elixir they needed.
The Nuggets shot 11 of 18 from 3 in the first half to build a 22-point lead and only slightly cooled off from there (finishing 21-for-39) in a 129-92 thrashing of the Knicks.
“The 3-point line killed us again,” embattled coach David Fizdale said. “So, until we figure that out we’re going to keep feeling this pain.”
Veteran Taj Gibson said defending the 3 comes down to one thing.
“You can say it’s skill, but at the same time, it comes from the heart,” Gibson said. “It comes from effort, going out there and knowing that you’re going to mess up — I can deal with fouling out as long as I know I’m going out there and playing hard and pushing and pushing the issue.”
The Knicks had all three point guards at their disposal for the first time since the third game of the season. But none was particularly effective.
Elfrid Payton returned from a 17-game absence due to a hamstring strain and was eased in off the bench, recording four points, four turnovers and two assists in 11:17, in which he was minus-17.
Frank Ntilikina started for the 16th time in the past 17 games — the only exception being Monday when he sat out with a sore upper back — and chipped in nine points and one assist while taking a minus-20 in 23:42.
Dennis Smith Jr. was only minus-7 in 17:43, but had just four points and four assists.
Fizdale said he expects to use multiple point guards at the same time to get different looks now that he has everybody back, and started that process by playing Smith and Payton together at times. Smith said he has been preparing for that scenario.
“I took some time out to learn the two, for just-in-case scenarios,” Smith told The Post before the game. “I’ve been doing that this week. I like it, I enjoy it. The two, a lot of times you’re going to touch the ball in the half court. Just being able to get some touches, get a feel for it, feel engaged, I think that’s important.”
The Knicks added injury to insult when they lost Damyean Dotson midway through the second quarter. The guard went in for a steal and dislocated his left pinkie finger, coming up in serious pain. After a trainer appeared to try, unsuccessfully, to pop it back in on the sideline, Dotson went to the locker room and did not return.