For the fourth and final time this season, the Sacramento Kings faced off with the defending champions, this time in Denver. The Kings have a strong history of showing up against the Nuggets, defeating them in their first three matchups. After their disappointing defeat on Monday, completing the series sweep of the defending champs would be a reassuring response. But without their engine in De’Aaron Fox, who was sidelined with a knee contusion, the Kings needed extra production from a collective effort. Let’s see how they did:
Quick Stats
Outcome: Kings lose, 96-117
Sacramento Kings: 96 pts, 40.0% fg, 34.3% 3 pt, 61.5% ft, 28 ast, 43 reb, 14 to
Denver Nuggets: 117 pts, 54.1% fg, 42.9% 3 pt, 90.9% ft, 34 ast, 43 reb, 16 to
To beat the Denver Nuggets without their star point guard, the Kings needed to play a nearly perfect game of basketball, and they did for one quarter. Unfortunately, there are four quarters in a game of basketball, and the Kings just didn’t have the juice, precision, or execution to keep up with the Nuggets. Tonight, it seemed that health really is wealth, and the absence of De’Aaron Fox cost the Kings in a big way.
The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly
The Good:
- Perfect Start: The Kings played a great 16 minutes of basketball, where they dominated on both ends of the floor and gained themselves a 15-point lead. On the defensive end, Davion Mitchell set the tone early by hustling on recoveries, disrupting multiple plays, and pulling the chair out on bigger matchups that tried to take advantage of him in the post. The Nuggets found some easy buckets through well-executed offense, but these instances were few and far between as the Kings forced turnovers and broke up actions with deflections. On the offensive end, the Kings came out with an aggressive and decisive pace, moving the ball well and finding high quality shots. Nikola Jokic covered Domantas Sabonis (13 points, 10 rebounds) well on the high post, where the Kings run much of their offense through, and Sacramento’s guards did a good job of adjusting to this coverage and attacking the open paint and finishing at the rim. The Kings shot 7-10 from the 3-point line on 10 assists in the first quarter, completing a nearly perfect start to this game.
The Bad:
- Losing Faith: Things started to get bad halfway through the second quarter once the Nuggets sharpened things up on their end and clawed their way back from the 15-point deficit. Once the Nuggets started gaining a hint of momentum, the Kings were thwarted from what they were doing so well early on. Suddenly, the paint was neglected, shots felt rushed and desperate, passes got sloppy, and the defensive breakdowns were abundant. After a hot shooting start, the Kings went ice cold, shooting 0-9 from deep in the second quarter. It didn’t take much for the Kings to get taken out of their rhythm and to lose faith in what they were executing. By the half, they had given up a 17-point swing and trailed by 10 points.
The Ugly:
- Losing Fight: Once Denver gained control of the game in the second quarter, they never looked back, and things got ugly fast. The third quarter was a continuation of the end of the first half, as the Kings never returned to the efficiency or effort we saw to start the game. The Nuggets quickly gained a 20-point lead and the Kings seemed to lose all fight at this point. Nikola Jokic earned a triple double by the end of the third quarter and finished with 14 points, 14 rebounds, and 11 assists. Jamal Murray enjoyed the lack of resistance from the Kings and dropped 32 points on 13-15 from the field and 5-6 from the 3-point line. Aaron Gordon had a handful of dunks off of Denver’s high post to baseline cut action from Jokic and finished with 17 points. In short, the Nuggets’ starters racked up their stats early and by the start of the fourth quarter, Mike Brown had his bench in to concede this blowout.
The King of Kings
Keegan Murray ended up leading the Kings with 21 points. His most impressive stretch was in the beginning of the game where he demonstrated a point of attacking the basket and looking for his shot. He scored 15 of his points in the first half when he was playing this way. Down the stretch, he also did this, which was fun:
Keegan Murray with the big-time (although pointless at this point) poster over Jay Huff. pic.twitter.com/jAriqZoBId
— Brenden Nunes (@BrendenNunesNBA) February 29, 2024
Up Next
Friday, March 1st @ Minnesota Timberwolves – 5:00 P.M. (PT)
Champion and definite championship contender vs. Kings.
All things considered not a bad loss. Didn’t lose because of KaNGZ.
Kings just got Maloned by the Chanps . On to Minneasota
We need an NBA-caliber backup PG. Davion will never be that answer.
You rang?
I would welcome Patty in place of Javale.
Yeah, let’s blame Davion, or maybe Huerter.
He doesn’t shoulder all the blame for last night, that’s mainly on the gameplan, or lack thereof (a common theme this year for some reason). The team has shown that it can overcome having one starter not contribute at all in a game, and still get a win. However, it’s silly to sit here and pretend that he’s not a black hole on offense, and has also fallen off a cliff defensively from his first two years. He’s basically regressed to a point where rookie year Davion would be a massive improvement from what we’ve seen this season.
Yup, he has gotten worse in each season. It’s not a career arc that is long for the league.
Can anyone think of an undersized PG that can’t score or assist that made it the NBA? I sure as hell can’t
Nope.
I don’t understand playing him over Ellis. I thought Ellis was better that Davion earlier in the season, but then we sign him to a regular contract and then never play him.
Weird.
I don’t get it either. Why take up the last roster spot on him, while ignoring the buyout market, only to not play him. It’s almost like there is a bit of a disconnect between Brown and the front office.
Yeah! Go figure. He can’t be any worse.
Cory Joseph has to be in that conversation.
That is actually a good comparison. Numbers wise they are fairly similar. Joseph shoots the 3 better, which is probably why he has been in the league as long as he has.
Both are minimal impact players, which means Davion is highly expendable.
FWIW Joseph is listed as 6-3 and Davion as 6-0
Per b-ball ref, their ORTG / DRTG:
Cory Joseph 110 / 111
Davion Mitchell 105 / 119
It’s like they say, “1 inch equals 2 ORTG points and 3 DRTG points.”
So Davion is basically a poor man’s Cory Joseph. Yikes.
So much for the sweep…
Ehhh tonight’s game not bad compared what the Clippers did. Off to Minnesota!
Just because the Clips shit the bed, doesn’t mean the Kings didn’t wet theirs.
I am sick of hearing this from Brown again and again…..
If he think those guys played the right way, then he should be playing them once the team is down by double-digit, just sub all starters out and play those guys who play hards…at least those guys fight……
The starters is not defending and not playing the right way is awful to watch….
p.s. Stop the Davion/Ellis point guards experiments, rather play J. Ford or C. Jones…
If Ford and Jones are the answer this season…yikes. Neither has played much. Jones looked okay, I guess, but not better than Ellis and Davion (even though Davion has been pretty bad all season).
This just shows how poor the PG/SG rotation is, outside of Fox/Huerter/Monk. Duarte has looked fine recently, so that is a positive.
Also, seeing the Fakers came from behind and get the win against the Clippers, made this loss even more ugly….as the Kings players never showed any fights…….
The Lakers, Warriors and Mavs are all surging at the moment, but the Kings are floundering. The 10th spot is a very real possibility.
I think it’s safe to say that the top 10 in the West is pretty much set at this point (barring some crazy run from the Jazz/Rockets). The top 4 is probably set as well (positioning not withstanding). 5-10 can change at the drop of a hat, and based on how consistently inconsistent we are, I have a hard time seeing us grabbing the 5th or 6th seed.
The Kings face a rough scheduling road ahead, despite having 11 home games coming up. They are one game from the 5th seed with 25 games to go.
Too soon to start giving them the 10th seed IMO. To each their own.
There isn’t a lot of room for error given that the Lakers and Warriors have been playing better lately. If they both have good stretches and we have a bad stretch, we could easily drop to 10th. Not saying it will happen, but with only 25 games to go, it still is possible.
Our strength of schedule actually eases a bit this month. Per Tankathon, we’ve dropped from eighth hardest to ninth after last night’s game—down from fourth hardest before the break. After tomorrow’s game with the T-Wolves, I expect us to drop further. The L****s are at seventh and the Suns are #1.
Yikes! I just took a look at the Suns remaining schedule. Their final 10 games looks like quite the gauntlet:
@Nuggets, @Thunder, @Pelicans, Cavaliers, T-Wolves, Pelicans, Clippers, @Clippers, @Kings, @T-Wolves
My fear is that both the Lakers and the Warriors have the kind of veteran leadership to fight their way out of the 10th spot, leadership the Kings lack.
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