After getting torn apart by the red hot Cleveland Cavaliers and dropping an awful loss to the shorthanded Detroit Piston, this year’s Sacramento Kings did exactly what everyone suspected they might do in this roller coaster of a season and managed to torch the defending champions after looking like a lost team over the last couple of games. Even with the Nuggets missing two key contributors in Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Michael Porter Jr., Denver still dressed their two best players in Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray, but the pair was outplayed by Sacramento’s non All-Star All-Stars, De’Aaron Fox and Domantas Sabonis. Fox was particularly spectacular on both ends of the floor, finishing the evening with 15 points, 10 assists, and 5 steals, while Sabonis recorded another triple-double, ironically passing Jokic for the league lead, with 17 points, 17 rebounds, and 10 assists. For the Nuggets, Jokic finished with 23 points, 8 rebounds, and 7 assists, and Aaron Gordon recorded 14 points and 3 boards.
The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly
The Good:
Malik Monk: Sometimes Malik Monk giveth and sometimes Malik Monk taketh away, but tonight was a giveth-type night for Sacramento’s Sixth Man of the Year candidate. Monk scored 10 quick points in the first quarter, including a buzzer-beating three-pointer, and his swagger and attitude helped the Kings to maintain and build their lead in the final two quarters. Monk led the Kings in scoring with 23 points, and he needed just 13 field goals to get there. He was truly a difference maker all night long.
The Rest of the Bench: For the last several games, Mike Brown has played JaVale McGee over Alex Len with less than impressive results, but when McGee was benched for Len to start the second quarter, the game took a turn in favor of Sacramento. Len, always the ready professional, came into the game ready to play his role and do nothing more. He was a known presence defensively, scored 11 points on 5 field goal attempts, and most importantly, didn’t majorly screw anything up. Meanwhile, Trey Lyles continued his hot shooting from deep, finishing with 15 points and 7 boards while knocking down 3 of his 4 three-pointers. The bench has often been a point of disappointment throughout the season, but tonight the backups were a key component of an encouraging Kings win.
Defense? Defense!: After allowing the Nuggets to score 35 points in the first quarter, the Kings held Denver to under 30 points in each of the remaining periods, including just 22 points in the second quarter and 20 points in the fourth. Domantas Sabonis was incredibly physical with Nikola Jokic, Keegan Murrary was a pest on the weakside, and De’Aaron Fox pressured Denver’s guards all evening long. Tonight was one of Sacramento’s most complete defensive performances of the season.
The Bad:
Nothing: Blow out the defending champions at home with everyone playing at least moderately well and the bad section can be skipped for a night. Light the Beam!
The Ugly:
24 hours worth of Twitter Reactions: The timeline was awfully dark after the Kings passed on any significant moves at the deadline, and it will return there if the Kings blow another game against a bad opponent or two, but for now, the Kings are looking pretty okay. Let’s live in the moment, shall we?
The King of Kings
Alex Len: Yes, Domantas Sabonis recorded yet another triple-double, and yes, Malik Monk led the Kings in scoring, and yes, De’Aaron Fox was a two-way force all evening, but tonight’s King of Kings award goes to Alex Len for always staying ready and always playing within his role. The game truly started to swing Sacramento’s way when Len entered the game and contributed on both ends of the floor, and hopefully Friday night’s performance was proof enough for Mike Brown that Len should be playing over McGee.
Up Next
Sunday, February 11th @ Oklahoma City – 12:00 P.M. (PT)
