Big nights from Nikola Jokic, Jamal Murray, Aaron Gordon and Jonas Valanciunas brought the Nuggets’ win streak to five.
Here are three takeaways from Denver’s 122-108 win on Tuesday at Golden 1 Center in Sacramento.
- The start of the fourth quarter will go down as the most impactful non-Jokic stretch to start the season. A group of Jamal Murray, Bruce Brown, Tim Hardaway Jr., Peyton Watson and Jonas Valanciunas turned a three-point advantage to start the fourth quarter into a 15-point lead with seven minutes to go. That was good enough to buy Nikola Jokic and Aaron Gordon some extra rest with Denver on the first leg of a back-to-back set. The cushion proved to be valuable, as the Kings fought back in the final minutes.
- Not many teams have an answer for Jokic, but the Kings have some of the worst options when it comes to a solution. With Domantas Sabonis again starting alongside an undersized starting lineup and Drew Eubanks serving as the primary backup, Sacramento didn’t have much of an answer for Jokic or Valanciunas. Credit Kings coach Doug Christie with trying to mix up his looks, having Precious Achiuwa picking up Jokic when he was bringing the ball up the court, but it was more of a guess than any sort of real answer when it came to slowing Jokic, who finished with 35 points on 16-of-19 shooting to go with 15 rebounds, seven assists and two steals. The Nuggets won Jokic’s 33 minutes by 11 points.
- If the Nuggets want to rest some of their heavy-minutes guys on the second night of the back-to-back, they won’t be the only short-handed team. The Clippers ruled out Kawhi Leonard (right ankle sprain) and Bradley Beal (left hip soreness) for Wednesday’s game at Intuit Dome a couple of hours prior to the start of Denver’s game Tuesday. Aaron Gordon and Jamal Murray didn’t play in Saturday’s game, the second half of the Nuggets’ first back-to-back set of the season.
NUGGETS 122, KINGS 108
What happened: Sacramento led by one point after the first quarter, but Denver took a 60-56 lead by halftime. The Nuggets led by three to start the third quarter and improved to 8-2 on the season, matching Spurs for the second-best record in the Western Conference.
What went right: Jamal Murray’s 3 early in the fourth quarter capped a 9-0 run that gave Denver a 10-point lead. It extended Denver’s streak of having a double-digit lead in each of its first 10 games of the season.
What went wrong: The two starters tasked with spacing the floor continued to struggle from 3. Cam Johnson missed all three of his attempts from 3, while Christian Braun started 1 for 4 from deep before a late make.
Highlight of the night: Cam Johnson and Nikola Jokic teamed up for an impressive defensive stop and connected to make the most of the ensuing fast-break opportunity. Johnson denied Zach LaVine a shot before Jokic deterred Malik Monk at the rim. Jokic grabbed the defensive rebound and threw an on-target pass the length of the court to Johnson for a dunk that put Denver up six in the middle of the third quarter.
Up next: After the late night, the Nuggets are off to Los Angeles for Wednesday’s game against the Clippers.
