It’s been good vibes lately for the Denver Nuggets. They’ve won three straight and seven of their last eight games (their one loss came with Nikola Jokic not playing). Tonight coach Michael Malone’s old nemesis comes to town: the Sacramento Kings. The Kings are even hotter than the Nuggets as winners of ten of their last eleven games. They’re led by De’Aaron Fox and Domantas Sabonis, and veteran DeMar DeRozan is turning back the page, scoring over twenty points in his last seven games. Nothing will come easy for Denver tonight.
The Essentials
Who: Denver Nuggets (27-16) vs Sacramento Kings (23-20)
When: 7:00PM
Where: The Can. Denver, CO.
How to watch/listen: Denver Stiffs does not condone piracy, unless it’s the romanticized 17th century type. My20 KTVD, Altitude+, Altitude Radio 92.5FM.
Rival blog: The Kings Herald
The Matchup
| Position | Nuggets | Kings | Advantage |
| PG | Jamal Murray | De’Aaron Fox | Even |
| SG | Russell Westbrook | Malik Monk | Even |
| SF | Christian Braun | DeMar DeRozan | Kings |
| PF | Michael Porter Jr. | Keegan Murray | Nuggets |
| C | Nikola Jokic | Domantas Sabonis | Nuggets |
| Bench | Aaron Gordon, Julian Strawther, DeAndre Jordan, Peyton Watson | Keon Ellis, Trey Lyles, Alex Len, Kevin Huerter, Devin Carter | Even |
Injury report*: Vlatko Cancar – out (knee), DaRon Holmes II – out (achilles), Trey Alexander – out (G-League), Spencer Jones – out (G-League). *The Kings injury report was not submitted at time of writing.
The Three Things
The thing to watch for: the stretchiest of bigs
Nikola Jokic and Domantas Sabonis are currently the two leaders in the league for three point percentage (47.5% & 48.5% respectively). Michael Porter Jr. of course can light it up from three as well and while Keegan Murray isn’t what you’d call a plus three point shooter, he’s certainly not shy about shooting them. Both teams have some capable stretch bigs off the bench as well. Expect spacing to at a maximum in this game. MPJ recently said he’s focusing on taking more threes since outside shooting volume has been a problem and that’s been part of the story of Denver’s recent success. This doesn’t mean Denver should get away from what’s their bread and butter though. More threes means more spacing means more open cuts to the basket.
The thing to remember: Sacramento is on a B2B
Been a while since a team had to do the brutal west coast to Denver B2B but that’s what Sacramento draws tonight. They played late last night against the Golden State Warriors at sea level, hopped on a plane, lost an hour in the time change, and landed at a mile high above sea level in the wee hours of the morning. This is widely considered the hardest back to back to overcome in the league. In particular this should play into Denver’s favor with the bench unit. I’d like to see some solid non-Nikola minutes with a lineup of Russell Westbrook, Christian Braun, Peyton Watson, Aaron Gordon and Julian Strawther. Sure, the shooting in that group isn’t spectacular but their ability to get out and run should be able to test the conditioning and mental fortitude of the Kings to the max.
The thing to bet: Jamal Murray over 2.5 threes (+115)
Murray has hit three or more three pointers in three of his last four games against Sacramento (including knocking down four and five in his last two). He’s struggled a bit with his outside shot in the last couple games but hasn’t lacked for attempts so I’m not overly worried about it. The betting public seems to be though, which is pushing this line into that sweet sweet plus territory.
