With De’Aaron Fox sidelined due to injury, Jamal Murray scores 32 to help the Nuggets defeat the Kings.
The Kings were unable to complete the 4-0 season sweep of the reigning champions because they lacked star guard De’Aaron Fox. The Denver Nuggets were too strong for the struggling Kings. Not at all. In front of an enthusiastic crowd at Ball Arena, the Nuggets came at Sacramento with an avalanche during the second and third quarters on Wednesday, outscoring the Kings by 35 points on their way to a 117-96 victory.
The match was so unfair. With his team trailing by 28 points at the beginning of the fourth quarter, Kings coach Mike Brown decided to go empty-handed. “We could have done better with our game plan and stuff against their main guys,” Kings centre Domantas Sabonis, who was marred by stitches on his left side, remarked after the game.
When pressed for more details regarding the team’s strategy, Sabonis responded, “coverages, stuff out there that we switched up, or whatever.” For the first time this season, Denver started all five of its starters against the Kings on Wednesday, which helped the Nuggets exact revenge for the defeat they suffered 14 days prior when the Kings shocked them in the final game before the All-Star break thanks to 15 points from Fox in the fourth quarter. Since then, Denver has won four straight games with an average point differential of 18.
Lacking star guard De’Aaron Fox, the Kings were unable to finish the 4-0 season sweep of the defending champions. The struggling Kings couldn’t compete with the formidable Denver Nuggets. Not at all. The Nuggets came at Sacramento with an avalanche during the second and third quarters on Wednesday, outscoring the Kings by 35 points en route to a 117-96 victory in front of a boisterous crowd at Ball Arena.
The game was so unjust. At the start of the fourth quarter, Kings coach Mike Brown made the decision to leave the game without winning. His team was behind by 28 points. Domantas Sabonis, the centre for the Kings, lamented, “We could have done better with our game plan and stuff against their main guys,”
When Sacramento was outscored 72-37 in the second and third quarters, uerter was questioned about the game. “I’m not sure if I could pinpoint a single item,” he uttered. Then he displayed an uncommon level of annoyance with his minutes. He remarked, “I wish I was out there to help us more though.” Huerter scored four points in his eighteen minutes of play. Along with two rebounds, two assists, and three turnovers, he shot just 2 of 5 from the field. With the Kings leading by eleven points when he entered the game at 8:59 in the second quarter, he left in favour of Chris Duarte with 3:15 remaining in the half and Sacramento trailing by four points. For the last possession of the half, he returned. Huerter initiated the
Huerter left the game without playing again and refused to comment when questioned about his minutes. The six-year veteran is playing 25.3 minutes per game on average, which is a career low. He is also shooting 37% from 3-point range, which is the second-lowest percentage of his career. After Duarte took over as the starting lineup in late December, he spent five games as a substitute before regaining his starting position. The previous season, he started every game for the Kings. With 21 points, Keegan Murray led the Kings, and with 13 points, 10 rebounds, and 7 assists, Sabonis recorded his 41st consecutive double-double. With nine rebounds when he returned to the game in the fourth quarter, Sabonis was able to get the rebound he needed to continue his run of double-doubles. He claimed he didn’t inquire again about the
Off the bench, Monk scored 14 more points. Duarte scored eighteen points, twelve of which came in the fourth quarter’s garbage time. Even though the game was out of control, Brown thanked his reserves for their play in the late game during his postgame news conference, which took place before his players spoke in the locker room. In the fourth quarter, the Kings outscored Denver 17 to 24. Brown stated, “I thought the guys in the last group—Mason, Trey (Lyles), Alex (Len), Duarte, and Kessler (Edwards)—were really good.” “I felt they played hard, they tried to play together, and they tried to play the right way,” the speaker said. Sacramento suffered a loss as a result of Fox’s absence and the Nuggets having their entire roster available.
When playing without Fox, Sabonis stated, “We got to run, play our game in transition and run the play all the way through.” “It seems like we engaged in some (isolation) today, which is not how we play the game. We’ll kind of let Fox handle that. Denver took advantage of the fact that we need to start utilising one another. During the game on Monday, Fox sustained a contusion to his left knee, which forced him to leave the game. Fox had a dubious reputation coming into the match. Despite having a sleeve on his left leg, he participated fully in the morning shootaround and completed his pregame shooting drills before being ruled out. Fox hadn’t missed a game since he sat out one against Utah on December 16.
Prior to Wednesday, the Kings were 3-3 when Fox wasn’t in the starting lineup. After Fox missed five straight games due to an ankle injury, including two crushing losses in Houston, they went 2-3 from November 1 to November 10. They then defeated Portland and Oklahoma City at home. Davion Mitchell was started by Sacramento instead of Fox. Reinserted into the rotation, Mitchell entered the game having shot 46% from 3-point range in his previous 16 games. In 16 minutes, Mitchell finished with five points. Murray made 10 of his 13 shots, so Brown attempted to slow him down in the second half with backup Keon Ellis. The Kings’ goal was to defeat the reigning NBA champions in the season series. Rather, they had a 3-1 regular season record against them. Not one
