The Denver Nuggets made it three straight victories Monday night with a thrilling win at the Sacramento Kings. First Denver got up big early, leading by as many as twenty-three before letting the Kings all the way back to take the lead and then storming back late to steal a victory. Nikola Jokic had a triple-double, Jamal Murray willed his way to twenty-eight points as the Nuggets overcame the absence of Christian Braun and big nights from Domantas Sabonis and De’Aaron Fox. Denver gets a victory in a roller coaster ride, 130-129.

The Nuggets worked for good shots to start the game and that got them an early lead. They spread the ball around with all five starters getting a bucket in the first three minutes. Aaron Gordon in particular was a problem for Sacramento who was playing small outside of Sabonis. AG put the exclamation point on a Nuggets run that put them up twelve with a big one handed alley-oop finish. The Kings were absolutely abysmal shooting to start the game and scored just six points in the first six minutes of the quarter. Sacramento looked pretty lifeless as the quarter progressed while Denver pushed their lead up near twenty. Towards the back end of the quarter the Kings finally started to find some offense to keep it from getting all the way up to twenty but they still couldn’t keep Denver from scoring. Peyton Watson had some solid minutes to close out the quarter and after one the Nuggets led 41-21.

Julian Strawther carried the offense for Denver to start the second quarter but the Kings also had their offense going once again. The game started looking more like the matchup that everyone expected, two high scoring teams trading points with blows and counter blows. The Kings started to build some momentum and cut into Denver’s lead. Russell Westbrook came to the rescue to give Denver an energy boost midway through the quarter but the Kings run got some life back into the arena. The Nuggets started to get sloppy with the ball and Sacramento kept chipping away at their lead. It got back down to single digits which seemed to snap the Nuggets out of a funk and got them scoring again with their starters. The game became a bit of a track meet down the stretch of the half with defense optional. The Kings closed strong and after two the Nuggets lead was just 75-68.

Denver was a bit lifeless to start the third quarter while Sacramento wanted to run on every possession. The Nuggets lead continued to ebb away. A Malik Monk three at the eight minute mark gave the Kings their first lead of the game. They pushed it up to a six point lead before Denver responded by going back to scoring in the paint. They tied the game up about midway behind Gordon and Westbrook but got sloppy after that. The Kings kept in front while Sabonis played Jokic tough and created back to back turnovers. Late in the quarter Murray headed back to the locker room with an apparent injury but would return shortly after. Jokic plus the bench had a good run but once again the Nuggets didn’t close the quarter strong. Fox led a run in the final minutes and the Kings were up 103-96 after three.

The Nuggets didn’t find buckets easy to start the fourth quarter with Jokic on the bench but hit a couple of threes to keep themselves within striking distance. Murray finally started hitting some threes, when he trimmed the Kings lead down to two they took a timeout. Shortly after that Jokic was up off the bench to try and give the Nuggets just enough to pull off a road victory. Denver stayed close but just couldn’t find enough consistency to get themselves back in front with the final quarter now half over. Sacramento went on a run and pushed the lead back up to double digits. It looked like the Nuggets were starting to let it slip away with time running down. They mounted one last rally and got within four with two minutes to go. Denver’s defense finally got stops and after a pair of clutch buckets the Nuggets retook the lead with seventy-five seconds left. They traded baskets with the Kings in the final minute and that led to Denver trailing by one with the ball and twenty seconds to go. Murray buried a jumper with eight seconds remaining to set up one final shot for Sacramento. DeMar DeRozan couldn’t hit a fadeaway at the buzzer and the Nuggets escape a wild one with a 130-129 win.