Game Recap: Denver at Sacramento

Denver wasn’t able to increase their cushion on the 8th seed.

The Denver Nuggets looked lack-luster as they fell to the now DeMarcus Cousin-less Sacramento Kings. What particularly stings is the fact that Denver was finally healthy for this game.

For whatever reason, the Nuggets seemed to play a lot better when they were short-handed before the All-Star Break.

Guys like Willy Cauley-Stein and Darren Collison had their way with Denver’s atrocious defense and in the end, it resulted in a 116-110 Sacramento win. Talk about a way to start off a new era for the Kings.

The Nuggets seemed to be in control during the first quarter, but come second quarter, it was all downhill from there. The Kings seized the momentum and utilized their underdog status to upset the Nuggets in what some may have considered a must-win game for Denver.

Denver Nuggets

Especially when you look at how bad New Orleans got beat by Houston in DeMarcus Cousins’ Pelicans debut. Gallinari started off hot, but cooled off as the game went on. He finished with 15 points on 55.6% shooting in his first game back since his ankle injury.

Faried and Plumlee didn’t have the greatest of games as they both looked lackadaisical in this game. They both combined for only 12 points and had a combined total of rebounds of 6 which is just terrible. And, of course it does not help when your best players has a bad game.

Nikola Jokic had maybe his worst game of the year as he allowed Willy Cauley-Stein to put up a double-double consisting of 29 points and 10 rebounds whereas the Joker only scored a measly 4 points. He did have double figure rebounds, but his field goal percentage was only 28.6%.

Part of this may have been due to him not getting as many touches, but if he is going to be the future, Jokic needs to play better defense and score more than 2 baskets.

At the end of the night, the Nuggets took the bait the Kings threw and they were caught in a classic trap game.