Stop me if you’ve heard this one before: the Denver Nuggets are going to play the Sacramento Kings, again. The Nuggets have done two things a lot so far this year: win on the road, and play the Kings. Denver’s fourth and final meeting with the Kings happens in Sacramento tonight, with Denver having won two of the prior three encounters. Both teams are banged up and missing stars, which makes it all the more important that Denver not squander this opportunity for a win. Sacramento won the last matchup with Denver while putting up 128 points, so it would be great for the Nuggets if they could find some defensive effort for this one. With both Zach LaVine and Domantas Sabonis listed as Out on the injury report, though, the Kings are going to need to find scoring to stay with the top-ranked Denver offense. Can Denver take its road-winning-streak to 11?

The Basics

Who: Denver Nuggets (17-6) vs Sacramento Kings (6-18)

When: 8:00 PM MT

Where: Golden 1 Center, Sacramento CA

How to watch/listen: Altitude/ + / Radio. Explain that you have the heating pads that will let Julian Strawther suit up this week.

Rival Blog: Kings Herald

Injury Report: Nuggets: Aaron Gordon – out (hamstring), Julian Strawther – out (back), Christian Braun – out (foot). Kings: Dennis Schroder – doubtful (hip), Zach LaVine – out (thumb), Domantas Sabonis – out (knee)

The Three Things

The thing to watch for: Road excellence

The Nuggets have won 10 straight on the road and are 11-2 away from Ball Arena overall this year. This is technically still part of a road trip but with a 3 day break they got to sleep in their own beds in Denver, even get in some practice time. They’re not threatening the ’71-72 Los Angeles Lakers’ record of 16 straight road wins just yet, but 11 would be a nice number to get to tonight.

The Kings meanwhile are 3-7 at home, but they do know what it feels like to beat the Nuggets and no one in the league is more familiar with each other than these two teams at this point. Playing 4 times in the first 24 games makes it hard to keep secrets. No Sabonis creates further matchup problems for the Kings against Nikola Jokic, but in the game they won over Denver the Kings put up 30+ points in every quarter. They had 32 assists and shot 53% from the field, as well as making 22 of 23 from the stripe. Denver’s job is to disrupt Sacramento’s offensive rhythm. If the Nuggets let the Kings hang araound like they did in November, it could lead to a disappointing season split. Luckily for Denver, their focus has been much better on the road. Here’s hoping they keep that streak going as well.

The thing to remember: Westbrook knows the Nuggets, but they know him too

Russell Westbrook has been “the one that got away” for many Nuggets fans this year. He’s thriving in Sacramento, putting up 14 points with 7 rebounds and 7+ assists. He had 21 points, 11 rebounds and 6 assists in Sacramento’s lone win against Denver this year, and without LaVine and potentially Schroder it looks like a lot of Sacramento’s offensive attack will flow through Westbrook again. Denver is very aware of how he plays, but quick guards that attack the rim have caused issues for Denver all season with Aaron Gordon and Christian Braun out and Denver’s perimeter defense compromised by their absence. Denver won the Westbrook minutes despite his quality effort in their last encounter – if Denver can slow him down and give him fewer opportunities to set the table for his teammates, Denver has the offensive firepower to win any one-on-one scoring encounter.

The thing to bet: a Jokic triple-double

It’s been 4 whole games since he had one, which means he’s due, and also Sacramento doesn’t have the defenders to keep him from passing or scoring, and they don’t have the interior rebounder without Sabonis to fight him off the glass. It depends where Denver decides to place Jokic – he’s been playing a lot on the perimeter and organizing the offense from the arc – but if he hangs out enough on the elbow he’ll get the triple-double.