The Denver Nuggets probably were not supposed to win on Monday night against the Sacramento Kings in northern California. It was the second half of a back-to-back — on the road — and Denver entered the game without their head coach, Michael Malone, who had drawn a one-game suspension following his ejection on Sunday. They were also missing their two best defensive starters in Paul Millsap (left wrist sprain) and Wilson Chandler (lower back soreness). Thankfully for the Nuggets, talent prevailed as the Wes Unseld Jr.-led Nuggets grabbed a 114-98 win to notch their tenth win of the season.
With Chandler and Millsap out, it was Will Barton and Kenneth Faried –who hasn’t seen many minutes of late — who slid into the starting lineup. The starters looked sloppy and passive in the first quarter, particularly Jokic, who went scoreless in the first 12 minutes of play. Nonetheless, Denver held the lead until Unseld was forced to go to his depleted bench.
With five minutes remaining in the first, Jokic was subbed out for Mason Plumlee. Emmanuel Mudiay also replaced Jamal Murray while Trey Lyles — who has been exiled to the end of the bench for most of the season — replaced Faried at power forward. For the remainder of the quarter, Denver failed to score until Lyles hit a running floater to tie the game at 22 right before the buzzer. The two teams would produce matching scoring outputs once again in the second quarter, and the game was tied at 47 the half.
Denver was able to overcome their poor bench play thanks in part to a tremendous team effort on the glass. The Nuggets finished the game with 49 rebounds — with 14 rebounds on the offensive end — and they killed the Kings with 19 second-chance points.
It also helped that the offense returned to form in the second half. Gary Harris and Barton got hot in the third quarter and the team did serious damage from the perimeter — inciting a 19-9 run to close the third quarter. Denver kept their feet on the gas and closed the game out with a strong fourth quarter, during which the outcome was never really in question.
Barton finished with a team-high 25 points, while Jokic turned in an excellent performance on the glass, corralling 14 boards and tacking on 16 points. The Nuggets hope to return to full strength by Wednesday night being that they have a matchup in Houston with the Rockets.
