De’Aaron Fox has third straight 30-point game, but Nikola Jokic helps Nuggets outrun Kings
The Kings talked about using speed to their advantage in hopes of outrunning reigning MVP Nikola Jokic and the Denver Nuggets. Instead, Jokic was the one outrunning them.
Jokic had 33 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists to lead the Nuggets to a 121-111 victory over the Kings on Friday night at Ball Arena in Denver. Jokic is listed at 6-foot-11 and 284 pounds, but there he was, racing past all five defenders while leading the parade to the rim.
Interim Kings coach Alvin Gentry couldn’t understand what he was seeing.
“We’ve talked about being a running team and we’ve talked about how we’ve been, pace wise, in the bottom five the last five games,” Gentry said, “and then we come out and Joker beats us down court three of the first four plays of the game and he dunks the basketball, so that, to me, is a mental thing.”
De’Aaron Fox recorded his third consecutive 30-point game for the Kings (16-25), who lost all three of those games. Fox finished with 30 points, seven rebounds and five assists. He went 11 of 23 from the field and 8 of 10 at the free-throw line.
“I’m not thinking about the 30,” Fox said. “I’m thinking about the loss. Losing is tough regardless if you’re playing well or not.”
Gentry feels Fox has played at an All-Star level recently, but the Kings have lost seven of their last 10 games.
“He’s played really good basketball the last couple of weeks, but we have to have everybody onboard,” Gentry said. “In order for us to be a good team, it can’t be one guy. It can’t be two guys. It can’t be three guys. For us to be a good team, we need seven or eight guys playing at a really high level and we haven’t been able to do that.”
Jeff Green came off the bench to score 18 points on 7-of-9 shooting for the Nuggets (19-18), who shot 55.3% from the field. The Nuggets pounded the Kings inside, amassing a 70-44 advantage in points in the paint.
Alex Len provided a spark off Sacramento’s bench with season highs of 18 points and 10 rebounds, but the Kings couldn’t get enough defensive stops after falling behind early. They kept the game close for about five minutes, but then the Nuggets took control, staging a 12-0 run to open up a 15-point lead. The Kings looked slow and lethargic while the Nuggets were running and gunning, whipping behind-the-back and no-look passes all over the floor while turning long rebounds and turnovers into transition baskets.
The Kings got within five early in the second quarter, but then they let the game get away. The Nuggets went up by as many as 20 after outscoring the Kings 18-2 over a span of 2:46. Sacramento cut the deficit to 12 at the half and got within four early in the third quarter, but it wasn’t long before the Nuggets reestablished a double-digit lead.
The Kings hit the midseason mark nine games under .500, a half game behind the San Antonio Spurs for the final play-in spot in the Western Conference. Fox was asked if he feels the Kings are close to taking their place among playoff-caliber teams.
“I think a lot of the things the better teams in the league do are small things, but they continue to do them on a nightly basis,” Fox said. “… Jokic ran for three layups in the first quarter. If we don’t give those up, we might get a stop, and now we’re not playing from behind the whole game. Something like that, getting back in transition, can make a whole world of difference in a game like this.”
This story was originally published January 7, 2022 at 10:54 PM.
