With tonight’s Sacramento Kings game against the Denver Nuggets in the books, let us take a look at the ups and downs that the purple and white went through during the match.
The Sacramento Kings had their chances to win tonight’s game against the Denver Nuggets, but a poor second half led to their downfall by a score of 117-113. With this loss, the Kings fall to a record of 19-19 which keeps them out of the playoff seedings at the moment.
Let us dive into the details for tonight’s match.
Game Summary
To start the game, it was a good offensive outing by both teams. For the Kings, their starters were able to display excellent ball movement which resulted in them shooting 59% from the floor and 50% from three. For the Nuggets, they relied on both Nikola Jokic and Gary Harris to give them a spark as they combined for 19 points. Once the period ended, the game was tied at 30.
With the second period starting, coach Dave Joerger started to call on his bench. Guys like Bogdan Bogdanovic, Harry Giles, and Yogi Ferrell were able to give their team a needed spark. Their efficient play gave momentum to the Sacramento starters which resulted in a great quarter by the purple and white. With the Kings outscoring the Nuggets 36-23 in the period, the Kings found themselves up 66-53 going into halftime.
Entering the third quarter, the momentum Sacramento had suddenly disappeared. Throughout the entire period, the purple and white played sluggish as they were outmatched by Denver on both ends of the court.
As for the Nuggets, it was all about Jamal Murray. In the first half, Murray was ice cold from the floor, but in the third, he caught fire as he finished with 17 points in the quarter. Due to that, the Nuggets found themselves tied with the Kings once again going into the fourth.
Once the final period began, the Nuggets continued to dominate. Murray kept being a nuisance for the Sacramento defense as well as Denver’s bigs as they controlled the rebounding game. The Kings gave a good fight at the end led by a rally from Buddy Hield, but it was not enough as the Kings lost 117-113 once the clock expired.
Now, let us move onto the positives of tonight’s contest.
Good #1: Great First Half
When a team competes against the Nuggets this year, they pretty much need to be on their A-game, and the Kings did exactly that during the first half of tonight’s match.
The Kings arguably had their best first half of the season. Throughout the 24-minute period, the purple and white were playing great basketball on both ends of the court whether it came from their starters or bench players. As a result, the Kings found themselves up by 13 points going into halftime. Not an easy feat considering how great the Nuggets have been playing all season.
Good #2: Harry Giles
After having a solid outing against the Portland Trail Blazers, Dave Joerger called upon Harry Giles again for significant minutes. For a second straight game, Giles did not disappoint. In 19 minutes of action, he was able to record six points, five rebounds, and three assists.
The numbers are not that great for Harry, but his play definitely gave his team a spark as he was aggressive and active against his opponents. If Harry continues to play with the same type of production and energy, he will continue to see more consistent playing time going forth.
Good #3: Three-Point Shooting
As I mentioned, the Kings had a great first half of basketball which led to them scoring 113 points against a good defensive squad in Denver. A big part of the Kings’ offensive success tonight was due to their three-point shooting as they were able to make over 40% of their shots from the perimeter.
With Denver having a lot of size and length in the interior, the Kings needed to have a good night shooting the long ball. And they got it from guys like Buddy Hield, Nemanja Bjelica, and Bogdan Bogdanovic.
Bad #1: Iman Shumpert
There are not a lot of games this season where Iman Shumpert is a liability for the Kings, but unfortunately, that was the case tonight. For the game, Shumpert recorded zero points for the game as he shot 0-7 from the court. He also was not very productive in rebounding the ball and defending his opponents.
Usually, Shumpert is a veteran presence in the starting lineup who gives his team solid perimeter shooting and defense on the court. But in tonight’s game, it would have been better if he was a healthy scratch.
Bad #2: Rebounding
This is the biggest reason why Sacramento lost. For the game, Denver was able to outrebound the purple and white by a score of 54-33. This obviously led to the Nuggets getting more opportunities to score and getting more second-chance points as well.
It is no surprise that the Nuggets outrebounded the Kings tonight because of both squad’s personnel, but Sacramento completely got dominated in this aspect of the game. They need to find a solution to this problem going forward in their rebuild. It is essential if they want to take that next step to become a winning program.
Bad #3: Second-Half Blunders
The Kings had a “comfortable” lead going into the second half but just could not hang on as the Nuggets found a way to storm back. I know that the Nuggets are a great team, but with the way the Kings have been handling leads for the last couple of games, it has been unsettling.
The Kings have had great chances to make serious ground in the standings, but late-game blunders have prevented them to be successful. For the Kings to prove they are a team that is legit, they need to do a better job at closing games. Hopefully, tonight’s match is a good learning lesson that the young guys can benefit from when playing future games.