The Denver Nuggets struggled from deep and still used their scorching-hot offense to down the Sacramento Kings 130-124. Denver didn’t play a lot of defense in this one, but Nikola Jokic led the way on offense with 34 points, 7 rebounds and 14 assists. Jamal Murray added 15 / 7 / 7 but went 0-for-5 from deep, while Aaron Gordon and Bruce Brown combined for 33 points and 13 rebounds. For the Kings, Russell Westbrook led the way in his return to Denver with 26 points, 12 rebounds and 6 assists while Keon Ellis hit 5 threes for 15 points off the bench and all of Sacramento’s starters scored in double figures. Jokic’s +18 in his minutes proved the difference though in giving the Nuggets another home court win to start the season.
Game Flow
The Nuggets opened the scoring with threes from Nikola Jokic and Aaron Gordon and a serious look from the starters. Sabonis got to the charity stripe, Jokic hit a turnaround at the free throw line and then made a runner off a Jamal Murray pass to make it 10-1 Denver early. Russell Westbrook made a three, Jamal hit a jumper and then Dennis Schroder got into a spat with Jokic that led to a Jokic technical free throw. Jokic and AG missed a couple of shots, DeRozan made a tough baseline finish, and AG made a three then tipped in a deep miss from Christian Braun for an 18-8 Denver lead. Westbrook had a nice finish but the Nuggets did a good job of limiting the Kings to one shot as Murray got back down the court for a layup. Christian Braun hit an open three which was a good sign, Zach LaVine answered with a layup, and Russ got a layup in transition off a missed Jokic 3. The Kings found their energy but a Jokic-to-AG assist helped stop their run. Jokic hit a three, Tim Hardaway Jr and Zach LaVine exchanged buckets, then Jokic made a long jumper and a tip finish to put Denver up 12. Jokic had a great assist to Bruce Brown under the basket but the Nuggets forgot to play defense in the closing minutes. The offense was unstoppable though and a THJ three punctuated the explosion and Denver led 39-30 after one.
Jonas Valanciunas opened Denver’s second quarter scoring with a nice turnaround, then airballed a 3 his next time down. DeRozan hit a baseline shot, Keon Ellis and Julian Strawther exchanged gunner 3s, and Schroder made a pair of free throws to cut the Denver lead to 7. Bruce Brown got fired up about getting fouled and made sure to make a layup and his free throw. Big Val blocked former teammate Sabonis, but Brown couldn’t finish the other way. Jonas backed down Domantas for a nice hook shot, answered by Westbrook. The starters began to filter back in with Cam Johnson making a nice jumper, but with Jokic and Braun stuck at the scorer’s table Sacramento closed to 54-52 as Denver went cold from the field and Sacramento kept scoring. Murray had a traditional 3-point play and Braun made a pair of free throws, but Westbrook answered with a long 2. Gordon nailed a crossover step-back three – Denver’s 20th attempt so far of the game – for a gorgeous example of Denver’s first-half output.
Braun got to the line and his miss was rebounded by Gordon and found Joker for a bounce-in three to get the lead back to 10. Sabonis got a putback, Braun missed a 3, then Christian got a steal on Russ that wound up with a Braun finish on the other end. Russ made a 3 through, and Sabonis hit a transition bucket on Denver in the final seconds to make it 72-63 Denver at the half.
Sabonis and Jokic traded buckets to open the third quarter, and Russ took a Cam Johnson miss the length of the court for a layup. Jokic hit a floater on a Murray pass, but Denver was sloppy on the boards again to start the 3rd. Denver won a challenge and it turned into a CB finish and free-throw to put Denver up 80-67, then had a transition bucket the next time down. Murray and Schroder traded buckets, Jokic and Murray both missed threes, but Aaron Gordon’s baseline dunk and Cam Johnson’s oop from Jokic restored order. The Nuggets went cold from deep again but every time they attacked the rim they got points, with Jokic assisting both Cam and Christian within a minute at the rim to make it 94-83 Denver. Jamal got free throws off a nifty Jokic pass, Bruce made Denver’s 10th three in 30 attempts, and with a Valanciunas block in the final seconds Denver led 104-93 going into the 4th.
Valanciunas hit the opening bucket of the final frame, answered by Nique Clifford for the Kings. Denver stayed cold from deep as Sacramento closed to 6, but Jamal hit a nice jumper to briefly stall the Kings offensive. Murray missed his fifth 3 of the game (no makes) and the Kings came back down for a bucket to force a timeout from coach David Adelman to bring Jokic back in for an immediate 3. Schroder hit another mid-range jumper, and Bruce Brown made another 3 for Denver but Keon Ellis answered with one for Sacramento. Jokic hit a layup, LaVine buried a three, and Cam Johnson drove the hoop for a really nice finish to make it 122-112. Ellis hit another 3 for the Kings, while Jokic also drove the hoop hard for Denver’s 50th point in the paint. AG made free throws, Braun finished in the paint and Jokic answered LaVine’s free throws with a one-handed putback and then got a steal on the other end. Russ had a couple of buckets to draw the Kings within 8, then Murray got a charge against Westbrook. The Nuggets didn’t score in the last two and a half minutes, including a couple of bricked free throws from Braun, but still won 130-124.
Final Thoughts
-Denver’s offense can get volcanically hot with very little wasted effort. The Nuggets walked into some casual threes, jogged down the court and around the rim and put up a remarkably easy 72 in the first half. They only had 3 turnovers in the first two quarters and 8 for the contest, and that really does seem like the most important thing to this squad: if they hold onto the rock they will score an incredible amount of points. They only had 9 fastbreak points for the game! It was all half court and gentle transition and the Kings had no answer (except for their own offense in return, which is a problem for a different bullet point). If Denver can be judicious with the ball, they can outscore most teams without having to drop the defensive hammer. Which is good, because…
-Denver’s defense still leaves a lot to be desired. Russ had 16 points at halftime. The Nuggets got out-rebounded by 7 despite Sabonis and Russ being their only real rebounders. Part of that is because Jokic was running the offense further out and directing the offense from the top of the key and above for long stretches, but mostly it was long rebounds on missed threes that the Nuggets didn’t go for, instead opting to get back in transition – where they didn’t do much. The Kings shot 52% from the field and took 25 free throws. Denver gave up a lot of midrange shots but didn’t force them; Sacramento got the shots they wanted and for the most part they made them. At some point the Nuggets will have to figure out how to make other teams uncomfortable instead of just assuming Denver’s offense will outscore everyone.
-Denver is winning while testing out its different options. Denver is playing with pulling Jokic early one game, then leaving him sitting a couple extra minutes in the second the next. Julian played in the first half of this one with Tim Hardaway and Bruce Brown taking more minutes in the second half. The bench struggled to an extent in this one – Adelman didn’t bring Jokic back in quite soon enough in the first half, then had to bring him in at the 8 minute mark in the second half as the lead got down to 6. They played 5 bench guys together for a bit tonight and that worked out in that stretch.
Having Jokic on the squad allows DA to experiment with how to use players though. Cam Johnson’s three point shot is very bad at the moment (potentially due to the shoulder issue that keeps landing him on the injury report) but he ran more cuts to the basket today and finished in the paint to make up for it. Christian Braun got to the line as Denver cleared out the paint with Jokic directing more offense from the arc than just the elbow, and that hurt Denver’s rebounding while leading to 33 assists on 50 buckets. Denver has the luxury – especially at home – to experiment in-game and still win. Not all of those are going to work out, but it’s a long season and Denver needs to work the kinks out. While they do, keep enjoying the wins – they all count the same in the standings.
