Kings Fall Short To Joker, Nuggets
Mar 9, 2022, 9:59 PM | Updated: 9:59 pm
(Photo by Lachlan Cunningham/Getty Images)
(Photo by Lachlan Cunningham/Getty Images)
Sacramento battled late but couldn’t complete a comeba
Nikola Jokic did it again.
Just over a year following the All-Star center’s career-high 50-point performance at Golden 1 Center, the Jokic reached into his bag of tricks for another historic performance on Wednesday night.
Jokic had a 20-point, 10-rebound double-double before the halftime break as the talented big man proved to be too much for the Sacramento defense during a 106-100 win–Denver’s fourth win against the Kings this season.
While the defense did buckle down in the second half, the damage was done early as a short-handed Kings team that was without Domantas Sabonis (one-game suspension) didn’t have enough firepower to combat the Nuggets late.
With the loss, Sacramento (24-44) has lost three-straight games and four of their last five overall.
The reigning MVP did some serious damage to the Kings defense during the first quarter.
Nikola Jokic scored 15 points on six-of-eight shooting from the field and grabbed six rebounds during the first period to help lead Denver to a 32-29 lead. The Nuggets shot 68-percent from the field early, but Sacramento kept it close behind Trey Lyles’ 11-point performance in the first quarter.
Things wouldn’t stay close for long in the second as Denver opened up the quarter on a 19-7 run to take a 51-36 lead with 4:47 remaining in the half.
Sacramento trailed by 18 points before trimming the Nuggets lead to 63-51 at the break, as Jokic racked up 24 points (10-of-15 shooting) and 10 assists over just 17 minutes of play before play reached the third quarter.
De’Aaron Fox and an inspired Kings offense jumped out to a 20-11 run to open up the second half and trim Denver’s lead to 74-71 with 4:45 remaining in the third quarter.
Sacramento’s defense held the Nuggets to 17 points during the third in one of the team’s more impressive defensive performances of the season to enter the fourth trailing by just three points. The Kings ended the third by blocking three Denver field goal attempts over the span of one minute to inject some life into the Golden 1 Center crowd.
Lead changes between the two teams were fluid for the first eight minutes of the final period until Nikola Jokic’s and-one lay-in gave the Nuggets a 99-95 lead with just under two minutes remaining.
Monte Morris piled on with an and-one of his own to put the game away as the Kings played with tons of effort without their star center in Domantas Sabonis, but in the end, Jokic proved to be too much.
‘The Joker’ finished with 38 points, 18 rebounds, and seven assists over 35 minutes–just an absolute masterpiece from the 27-year-old.
According to Stathead, Jokic is the first player to post stat-line with 38+ points, 18+ rebounds, and 7+ assists since former King center DeMarcus Cousins did so in January of 2018.
Speaking of Cousins, the longtime King made only his second appearance of his career at Golden 1 Center as a visiting player on Wednesday–his first since October of 2017.
The 31-year-old center got a round of applause when announced by Kings public address announcer Scott Moak with 1:48 remaining in the first quarter. Cousins finished the night with five points, six rebounds, five turnovers and five fouls over 13 minutes.
If you’re in the camp of wanting Sacramento to battle every night while improving their odds in the draft lottery, you were in luck tonight.
Following Wednesday’s loss, the Kings moved to with 1.5 games of the fifth spot in the lottery and three games back of fourth-place Oklahoma City.
Things won’t get any easier for Sacramento in the coming days as they will travel to Utah on Saturday before opening up a brutal home-stand against contending teams in Chicago, Milwaukee, Boston and Phoenix.
King of the Night
De’Aaron Fox scored 20 points or more for the 14-consecutive game, breaking a tie with Kevin Martin, DeMarcus Cousins, and Mitch Richmond for the second-longest streak in the Sacramento era (1985-present). Only Chris Webber (15 games and 18 games) has done so in more consecutive games.
Fox had another strong performance on Wednesday, scoring 32 points on 12-of-23 shooting from the field to go along with five rebounds and 10 assists over 36 minutes of play.
It was Fox’s fourth double-double of the season and the 24-year-old’s 10th game this season scoring 30 or more points
Injury Report
- Richaun Holmes missed his second-straight game due to personal reasons.
- Moe Harkless was inactive for the second-straight game due to ankle soreness. He is considered day-to-day.
- Jeremy Lamb (left hip soreness) missed his third-straight game and is considered day-to-day.
- Terence Davis will be re-evaluated in two months after undergoing successful surgery to repair a right wrist ECU tendon injury.
Coming Up
Things could get quite messy in the coming days for the Sacramento Kings.
Sacramento’s next five opponents hold winning percentages of .590 or greater, with Saturday’s road matchup against the Utah Jazz acting as the first game of a week that will include matchups against some premier playoff-caliber teams.
Utah has won all three matchups against the Kings this season, the most recent being a 123-105 win at Golden 1 Center back on November 20th.
Sacramento has not defeated the Jazz since November 1, 2019, and have lost six-straight games to Utah dating back to January of 2020.
You can find all of your Kings vs Jazz coverage right here on Sports 1140 KHTK beginning at 4:30 pm PST on Game Night before a 6:00 pm PST tip-off from downtown Salt Lake City.
Upcoming Sacramento Kings Schedule
- March 9th vs Denver Nuggets
- March 12th @ Utah Jazz
- March 14th vs Chicago Bulls
- March 16th vs Milwaukee Bucks
- March 18th vs Boston Celtics
