The matchup at Ball Arena tonight featured a pairing of red hot teams in the Denver Nuggets and Sacramento Kings. For three quarters the Nuggets looked absolutely dominant and built up a huge lead behind a massive Nikola Jokic triple double. Despite being on a back to back, the Kings responded with a flurry of threes in the fourth quarter and nearly completed the improbable comeback before finally running out of gas. Denver gets their fourth straight victory, 132-123.

The Kings were predictably shooting a bit flat to open the game which got Denver an early lead but the Kings quickly made up the difference. There wasn’t much defense early on and the game quickly became a track meet with each team scoring at will. Jokic led the way for Denver with help from Christian Braun. When the Nuggets bench started to check in they got on a little run and moved back ahead by a couple baskets. They maintained that lead for a bit before starting to put on the gas with the quarter winding down. After Jokic hit Peyton Watson for a fastbreak slam Doug Christie took a timeout with the Nuggets up ten. Denver’s offense stalled out a bit to close the first but still led 40-31 after one.

Denver’s defense was solid to start the second quarter but they weren’t able to build their lead much because they were struggling to make shots. Watson in particular was cooking on defense and had multiple swats. The bench did their job, Jokic checked back in with just under seven minutes to play in the half and Denver leading by fifteen. The Kings were able to stop hemorrhaging points for a bit after that but Denver still maintained a double digit lead. Denver continued to be relentless while Sacramento was already starting to look tired. A highlight dunk by Braun with two minutes to go in the half put the Nuggets up twenty-two. Michael Porter Jr. had a good close to the half and Denver went to the locker room up 74-52.

The Kings opened the second half with a 7-0 run and shortly after got a quick timeout from Michael Malone who looked frustrated with his team’s effort. It didn’t bring immediate results with Denver looking awfully sloppy and Keegan Murray knocking down threes. Jokic went back to work in the post and that established order again but the Kings were still red hot on offense. Denver maintained around a fifteen point lead halfway through the quarter. Jokic secured yet another triple double before the end of the third quarter and the points kept flowing. Things cooled off a bit down the stretch and the Nuggets defense found their footing a little bit. Aaron Gordon knocked down a three with a minute left in the quarter to put Denver back up by twenty-one. The Nuggets followed up with a couple more threes to close the quarter and Jokic finished it off with a 3/4 court heave at the buzzer that found the bottom of the bucket. After three Denver led 110-85.

The bench unit was cold from the floor to start the second and that let the Kings cut into their lead. When it got down to fourteen Malone had to take a timeout. Jokic was back in after the break with Denver still looking for their first points. Braun got a dunk at the 7:20 mark and that was the first field goal of the quarter for Denver. Both teams started putting their regulars back with the game much tighter than it should be. Denver continued to struggle hitting shots and the Kings had the lead down to ten with five minutes to go. The Kings kept chipping away and a Malik Monk dunk had it down to seven. Jokic got a couple big buckets when no one else could make a shot as Denver was begging for the clock to run out on the game. Sacramento missed just enough shots that they had to play the foul game and Denver hit their free throws in the clutch to escape with a victory. Denver wins 132-123.