GameDay Notebook: Kings (15-20) vs. Nuggets (16-20)

Did you see the Kings demolish the Oklahoma City Thunder Wednesday night? If you read my preview, you know I was not expecting that result. The Kings needed exactly that sort of performance to end the pity party. Can we start talking about basketball again instead of coaching changes and chemistry issues? Maybe? A solid follow up performance tonight against the Denver Nuggets would help.

The Kings played fast, but they played with a purpose. I’ll point to their 52% three-point shooting as evidence. The Kings only took 19 threes (the Thunder took 30), but they were open. Darren Collison went 5-10 from three all by himself, and it was a welcome site because I think both Collison and Ben McLemore are guilty of taking perimeter shots when they aren’t open, and passing them up when they are. DeMarcus Cousins was also able to play over 37 minutes of basketball without getting into any foul trouble. That’s a winning formula.

For more on Wednesday nights win, you can check out our postgame coverage here.

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The Kings will host the Nuggets tonight in game two of their six game homestand. The Nuggets are playing much better than they were in early November when the Kings beat them in back-to-back games. And don’t think the Nugget’s players don’t remember that. They are going to come into Sleep Train Arena with a chip on their shoulder.

Denver is sort of in an interesting spot right now. They just traded away their best interior defender and starter center, Timofey Mozgov. A move like this usually indicates that a team has surrendered to the fact they just aren’t very good. They received a couple of late first-round picks in the trade, but I think you can give a little competitive edge to the Kings tonight in the sense that everyone involved in the organization, from the owners to the players, are still trying to win this season. I’m not sure what the Nuggets are playing for aside from personal pride. And pride can go a long way, but we’ve watched Kings basketball when the team has nothing to play for. It’s not fun. I don’t know if Denver is thinking that way, but it’s possible that there is some of that going on in the locker room.

They will also be without a few big rotation pieces, as JaVale McGee, Danilo Gallinari, and Randy Foye are all injured.

Without Mozgov and McGee, the Nuggets are going to have a hard time defending Cousins inside. Everyone (myself included) is excited to see what Jusuf Nurkic can do with extended minutes as Mozgov’s replacement, but as a rookie, I don’t see how he will be able to stay out of foul trouble defending Cousins. And maybe even more important than defending Cousins, they don’t have a post player who can draw him into foul trouble. We saw that on Wednesday when the Kings played OKC.

Theoretically speaking, Steven Adams and Kendrick Perkins as a duo can defend Cousins about as well as you could possibly expect. And to their credit, he only shot 6-23 in that game. That’s not good. But he was able to stay on the court for 37+ minutes because neither Adams nor Perkins are a scoring threat. Just having him out there has a huge impact on how the Kings play. So beyond just defending Cousins, the Nuggets will have a hard time keeping him off the floor, and that is how you really defend him.

The Kings played great in their last game, and that recent memory can cloud our expectations, but even with that being said, they should beat the undermanned Nuggets tonight on their home floor. We’ll see what happens, though. It’s never boring.

Oh, and don’t forget to vote DeMarcus Cousins into the All-Star Game by tweeting something that looks a lot like this.

If you don’t, he might just catch you with an elbow.

Check back in to A Royal Pain after tonight’s game for our postgame coverage.

Sacramento Kings vs. Denver Nuggets

Where: Sleep Train Arena – Sacramento, CA

When: 7:00 PM Pacific, 10:00 PM Eastern

Broadcast: Comcast Sportsnet California

Radio: KHTK Sports 1140 AM