Nuggets lay a Huge Egg; Lose to Kings 131-109
By Eric Meyer
Nov 5, 2014; Sacramento, CA, USA; Denver Nuggets center Timofey Mozgov (25) fouls Sacramento Kings center DeMarcus Cousins (15) during the third quarter at Sleep Train Arena. The Sacramento Kings defeated the Denver Nuggets 131-109. Mandatory Credit: Kelley L Cox-USA TODAY Sports
The Denver Nuggets went into Wednesday night’s game against the Sacramento Kings at Sleep Train Arena looking for retribution from M0nday’s plodding 110-105 loss to the Kings and came away even more embarrassed, losing to the Kings 131-109.
The game was really never in doubt as the Kings ran out to a 23-10 lead before the Nuggets knew what hit them in the face. By the end of the first quarter it was already 40-19 in favor of the Kings and the rout was on. The Kings effectively ran with the Nuggets and shot lights out on the night hitting 53.5% of their shots from the field and outrebounding the Nuggets 40-31. The Kings were led by Kenneth Faried’s Team USA teammate DeMarcus Cousins who tallied 30 points and 11 rebounds on the night, most of which came in the decisive first quarter. Forward Rudy Gay chipped in with 29 points and Carl Landry came off the bench to notch 18 for the Kings. The Nuggets had balanced scoring on the night led by reserve guard Randy Foye’s 19 points and Ty Lawson tallying 13 points and 9 assists for the Powder Blue Crew.
The Nuggets ultimate demise came in the first and third quarters of the game as they were outscored in those frames 77-37. It appeared that during the first quarter, the Nuggets were ill prepared to play this game and that falls on the drooping shoulders of Head Coach Brian Shaw. The starters were outscored on the night by an otherworldly 38 points. The only positives that came out of this game were the inspired play of Wilson Chandler in the first quarter, where he scored 11 of his 13 points on the night, and the Nuggets reserves who kept getting the Nuggets back into the game only to have the starters give it all back to the Kings. The Nuggets reserve team outscored the Kings by 16 points while they were on the floor and were led by Foye, who looks like he is rounding into shape as the Nuggets 6th man and floor leader when Ty Lawson is not on the floor.
The players who underperformed the most for the Nuggets on this night were starters Arron Afflalo and Kenneth Faried who combined for only 6 points and 9 rebounds on the night. Afflalo didn’t get his 2 points until well into the 3rd quarter and Faried was dominated by Kings “Bigs” DeMarcus Cousins, Carl Landry and “The Joker” Reggie Evans. Evans, a former Nugget, and all around pest, scored 6 points and tallied 5 rebounds in only 19 minutes and Cousins was far and away the Kings best player. The Nuggets did shoot fairly well on the night, notching their highest shooting percentage on the young season by hitting 45.3% of their shots but it didn’t matter on this night as the Kings took it to the Nuggets early and never pulled their foot off the gas pedal.
Some notes on Wednesday night’s game…. Ty Lawson moved into 5th place on the all time assist list for the Nuggets, passing erstwhile Nugget point guard Nick Van Exel with his 2.056th assist in last night’s 3rd quarter…. The Kings shot a very disturbing 97 free throws in the 2 games against the Nuggets this week, making 79 of them en route to the 2 wins…….The Kings moved to 4-1 on the season which constitutes their best start since 2001-2002.
The Nuggets need to re-group for a huge Friday night game against the LeBron James led Cleveland Cavaliers on National TV at Pepsi Center. The game will be on ESPN and starts at 8:30 MST. The Nuggets better get some things figured out in a hurry or they are going to be embarrassed by the Cavs on a national TV broadcast that could shape their futility for the entire season.