The Denver Nuggets beat the Sacramento Kings at home. Despite a little bit of a scare in the 3rd quarter, the Nuggets were always in charge. The Nuggets were led by Nikola Jokic who had 33 points, 10 rebounds, 7 assists and he made 3 threes. Jeff Green also had a great return game, he put up 18 points with a handful of impressive dunks. De’Aaron Fox led the Kings in scoring as he put up 30, 7, and 5. Tyrese Haliburton had an impressive shooting game as well, he shot 4-5 on threes tonight but it wasn’t enough to beat Jokic and the Nuggets.
Will Barton opens the game for the Nuggets with a 3, today is also Thrill’s 31st birthday. JaMychal Green and Monte Morris were both put into the starters tonight. After Monte played one game off the bench it seems that the coaching staff wants him to be the starter. Aaron Gordon was attacking the rim and he was all over the court, he had 2 dunks in the first quarter. The Nuggets offense was flowing early, the ball was moving everywhere and even Jokic was dunking.
The Kings just could not stop the Nuggets in transition. The Nugget starters minus JaMychal Green checked out of the 1st with a +/- of +12. Jeff Green made his return from Health and Safety Protocols tonight and he came into the game and got a tough and-1 and followed it up by taking a charge on the other end. The Nuggets were up 35-23 after the first quarter. Denver is 14-2 when leading after the first quarter which places them 2nd in the NBA.
The Nuggets open the 2nd off with Facu Campazzo’s shot getting blocked on what should have been a goaltend but was missed by the refs, Facu is T’d up soon after. The Kings bring it within 5 points but behind some scoring from Bones, the Nuggets extend the lead to 15 again. Zeke Nnaji also returned from Health and Safety Protocols tonight and he played some great defense along with the whole Nuggets bench in the 2nd. The Nuggets had 50 points with 7:30 left in the first half, over the next 3 minutes the Nuggets only scored twice. Jokic hit a three and then threw a no-look pass to JaMychal Green. The Nuggets Twitter absolutely nailed this caption too.
Nuggets were up by as many as 20 but the Kings led by De’Aaron Fox went on a run to cut the lead down to 12, Nuggets up 66-54 at halftime.
The Kings make a halftime adjustment by inserting Alex Len with the starters, he played okay defense on the Joker in the first half and had a pretty good offensive start. The Kings open the second half on a 12-4 run. The Nuggets were giving up easy looks on defense and could barely convert on anything at the rim. During the 3rd the Nuggets offense became stagnant and it appeared to be all Jokic once again. As per usual Jokic could not get a foul call even though he was being fouled on damn-near every possession. All he could do was make the shot anyway and smile and laugh at the referee. The Joker had 12 points in the 3rd alone. Jeff Green ends the 3rd quarter off with not one but TWO monster dunks. Nuggets up 96-85 at the end of the 3rd quarter.
Jeff Green continued his reign of terror by hitting a three to start off the 4th quarter and the Nuggets follow that up by going on a 10-2 run. Denver pushed the lead to as many as 21 in the 4th. While the Kings tried to make a late push and brought the lead down to 10 there was just not enough time.
What’s Next?- The Denver Nuggets will take on the Oklahoma City Thunder in OKC on Sunday the 9th at 5:00 (MST).
