Denver Nuggets: Player of the game against Sacramento

The Denver Nuggets easily dismantled the Sacramento Kings on Tuesday night 126-112 for their 4th straight victory of the new season.

It was an exciting night for the Denver Nuggets, with the team surpassing 120 points in a game for the first time this season in a phenomenal all-around team effort. The final score may not reflect it, but they were actually pretty stingy on defense as well.

They held the Kings to 55 points in the first half and 81 by the third quarter as the team built up an insurmountable lead, then put in the third-stringers and collapsed on defense in the final quarter. The Kings came into this game with a top-5 offense in the NBA in terms of points per game, yet only managed to put up 112 against a Denver defense that was bottom-5 in the NBA last season. That bodes well for their defense for the rest of the season and in the next 5-6 weeks without Will Barton.

It was also an amazing team effort on offense, with 7 players getting into double-digits in scoring, including every starter except for Torrey Craig. They had an offensive rebound percentage of 33.3%, 31 assists, and an offensive rating of 125.6. They settled some of the worries about their shooting as well, knocking down 36.7% of their triples on a 3-point attempt rate of 30.3%. On the night, they shot 51.5% overall from the field, a big improvement from how they’ve been shooting the rest of the season.

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Overall, almost every Nugget who played had a great game and had a big impact on the outcome. That made it very hard to pick the player who had the best game. However, here is who I believe deserves the moniker of player of the game.

(Note: All stats via Basketball-Reference or ESPN.com)

Nuggets Player of the Game: Gary Harris

As I said, it was almost impossible to pick a player of the game as there were so many players who had amazing performances. For me, Jamal Murray and Paul Millsap finish tied for second with Nikola Jokic not too far behind at 3rd. However, Gary Harris stepped up when the team needed him most and he was the most impactful player for the Nuggets.

Harris played the second most minutes on the night and had the highest box score among both teams(+21). He was the Nuggets’ second-highest scorer(18 points) and shot a very efficient 66.7% from the floor and a 50% clip from downtown. The number of points he put up wasn’t the important part of his performance. It was when he scored his points that mattered.

After a fairly slow start on offense for the Nuggets, Gary Harris took charge and scored 11 points in the first quarter to get the offense going. He slowed down a bit in the second half, scoring 5 points, but he had already set the offensive train going for the Nuggets. They did not trail in the game after Harris’ explosion of points.

Harris also impressed on defense, with he and Jamal Murray combining to hold the Sacramento Kings’ starting back court to just 11 points on 26.8% shooting from the floor and 25% shooting from 3-point range. He grabbed 1 steal and didn’t foul once, another very impressive feat.

I was also impressed not just by Harris’ passing on the night, but by his willingness to pass. He had 5 assists on the night to just 1 turnover, with a 25% assist percentage. He demonstrated court vision and selflessness that he has not showcased very often in the past, but based on his performances so far this season, I expect him to showcase it more often in the future.

If Gary Harris keeps putting up these kinds of performances throughout the year, he will be collecting quite a few player of the game awards, and maybe some more impressive accolades as well.