De’Aaron Fox’s double-double lifts Kings over Nuggets despite Nikola Jokic’s triple-double
The Denver Nuggets made a big run at the Kings in the third quarter Tuesday night, but they ran out of gas in the fourth.
De’Aaron Fox recorded his first double-double of the season, leading the Kings to a 125-115 victory over the Denver Nuggets at Golden 1 Center. Fox posted 24 points and 10 assists for the Kings (3-1), who beat the Nuggets for the second time in seven days.
Richaun Holmes scored 20 points on 10-of-13 shooting for Sacramento. Marvin Bagley III added 18 points, all in the first half. Harrison Barnes put up 13 points, a career-high eight assists and six rebounds.
Rookie first-round draft pick Tyrese Haliburton had a big game off the bench, finishing with 13 points and six assists. He was especially good in the fourth quarter, contributing eight points and five assists in the final frame.
“He plays beyond his years and we all have the utmost confidence in him with the ball, even in a tight game like this against a team like Denver,” Fox said.
Nemanja Bjelica and Buddy Hield had 12 points apiece for the Kings, who haven’t gone 3-1 to start a season since 2014-15.
“We had a lot of different help from a lot of different people and it took all of it,” Kings coach Luke Walton said.
Nikola Jokic posted another triple-double for the Nuggets (1-3), who were on the second night of a back-to-back after beating the Houston Rockets on Monday night in Denver. Jokic had 26 points, 12 assists and 11 rebounds. He also had 10 turnovers. Michael Porter Jr. had 30 points and 10 rebounds.
Sacramento fell behind 12-7 in the opening minutes, but after a slow start the Kings began to improve their tempo. Bagley cut to the basket for a layup from Fox, Hield drained a transition 3-pointer from the left wing and then Bagley put a pretty move on Paul Milsap, spinning inside for another basket.
Denver had a five-point lead early in the second period, but 3-pointers by Haliburton, Bjelica and Hield fueled a 9-1 run that put the Kings up 41-38. Bagley closed with a flourish to finish the first half with 18 points, helping the Kings carry a 74-62 lead into the break.
“Marvin had a big-time first half,” Walton said. “He really showed what kind of player he can become in this league with some consistent time.”
The Kings couldn’t maintain that momentum in the third quarter. The Nuggets blitzed them with a 21-3 run to take an 85-81 lead on a 3-pointer by Porter. The Kings fell behind by as many as 10 before battling back to cut the deficit to four going into the fourth quarter.
Denver went up by seven early in the fourth, but then the Kings began to play with a sense of urgency, imploring each other to push the pace. Fox hit a step-back 3-pointer to spark a 22-3 run that was capped by Haliburton’s 3-point bomb from 29 feet. The Kings outscored the Nuggets 29-15 in the fourth quarter after being outscored 38-22 in the third.
Murray ruled out
Nuggets point guard Jamal Murray was not listed on the team’s injury report earlier in the day, but he was ruled out with a right elbow contusion shortly before game time.
Murray had 21 points on 7-of-14 shooting in 31 minutes in Monday’s 124-111 victory over the Rockets. He struggled in a season-opening loss to the Kings last week, finishing with nine points after going 1 of 9 from the field and 0 of 5 from 3-point range.
Murray is coming off a career year after averaging 18.5 points, 4.8 assists and 4.0 rebounds in 2019-20. The Kings did a fairly good job defensively against Murray in three games against the Nuggets last season, holding him to 15.3 points per game on 15-of-40 (.375) shooting.
Milsap joins 1,000-game club
Nuggets forward Paul Milsap appeared in the 1,000th game of his NBA career.
The 35-year-old power forward is in his 15th season out of Louisiana Tech. The Utah Jazz chose him with the No. 47 pick in the 2006 NBA Draft.
Milsap spent seven seasons with the Jazz and four seasons with the Atlanta Hawks before joining the Nuggets in 2017. Still a starter in this league after all these years, Milsap came in averaging 14.3 points on 65.4% shooting from the field and 54.5% shooting from 3-point range.
Setback for DaQuan Jeffries
Second-year guard DaQuan Jeffries was nearing a return after missing the first four games of the season due to back soreness, but he suffered a setback Tuesday.
The Kings said Jeffries sprained his left ankle Tuesday while participating in 4-on-4 activities before the game. He is scheduled to undergo an MRI on Wednesday morning.
Up next
The Kings will have Wednesday off before visiting the Houston Rockets on Thursday. They will remain in Houston to face the Rockets again Saturday.
The Rockets (0-2) have been in turmoil since coach Mike D’Antoni and general manager Daryl Morey abruptly resigned after being eliminated in the Western Conference semifinals for the second year in a row. They have already traded Russell Westbrook and James Harden has demanded a trade as well.
Houston’s season opener against the Oklahoma City Thunder was postponed because the Rockets didn’t have the minimum eight players required to start the game. Harden was under quarantine orders and others, including John Wall, DeMarcus Cousins and Eric Gordon, were out due to health and safety protocols. Harden has since returned. Wall and Cousins have been cleared to make their Rockets debuts against the Kings.
Injury report
Nuggets: OUT — Jamal Murray (elbow); JaMychal Green (calf); Greg Whittington (knee).
Kings: QUESTIONABLE — DaQuan Jeffries (back).
Upcoming Kings schedule
Dec. 31 at Houston Rockets, 4 p.m.
Jan. 2 at Houston Rockets, 2 p.m.
Jan. 4 at Golden State Warriors, 7 p.m.
Jan. 6 vs. Chicago Bulls, 7 p.m.
Jan. 8 vs. Toronto Raptors, 7 p.m.
This story was originally published December 29, 2020 at 9:42 PM.
