It feels like the Kings are playing the Denver Nuggets every other game lately, but that’s weirdly been a good thing for the Kings as they’ve yet to lose to the Nuggets this season. Tonight they’ll go for the clean sweep on the season, but it will be an uphill challenge against a fully healthy Nuggets squad that will be out for a bit of payback.
Let’s talk Kings basketball!
When: Wednesday, February 28th, 6:00 PM PT
Where: Ball Arena, Denver, CO
TV: NBC Sports California
Radio: Sactown Sports 1140
Last Time
This will be the third time the Kings and Nuggets have faced off in this month alone, with the last matchup occurring right before the All-Star Break. The Kings ended up winning 102-98 thanks to an incredibly clutch run by De’Aaron Fox, who personally outscored the Nuggets 10-5 in the final two minutes.
Three in the Key
Fully Armed and Operational
The Kings are 3-0 against the Nuggets this season but tonight will be the first time all season they’ll face them fully healthy. Of Denver’s starters, only Nikola Jokic and Aaron Gordon have played in each game against the Kings, with Jamal Murray and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope missing two of the matchups and Michael Porter Jr. missing another. Jokic is formidable enough on his own and these were still impressive wins for the Kings, but a fully healthy Nuggets squad is going to be tough to beat, especially in their arena where they’ve lost just five times. The Kings will need a total team effort to come away with a win.
Keegan Murray
Keegan Murray was one of the few bright spots in Monday’s loss to Miami, scoring a team-high 28 points and hitting 6 of 7 from distance and 10 of 14 overall. It was one of the few times in his career so far where the Kings have lost when Keegan has scored 20 or more points. The Kings are an exceedingly tough team to guard when Keegan is going off because it just adds another dimension that the opposing defense has to account for. Keegan has had a bit of an up and down sophomore season in terms of his offense, at times an inferno and other times invisible. Hopefully we can see a bit more consistency from him down the stretch of this season, and the Kings will need him to have a good night tonight if they hope to have a chance at victory.
Win the Bench Battle
So far in the season series, the Kings have won the bench battle in two of the three games, with the third basically being a wash. Malik Monk single-handedly outscored Denver’s bench in their first matchup, and in the second the Kings had double-digit performances from him, Trey Lyles and Alex Len. The bench battle will be a bit more even tonight with Denver’s starters fully healthy, but the Kings should still have the advantage here, and they’ll need the bench to step up and win those minutes.
Prediction
Keegan Murray, Domantas Sabonis, De’Aaron Fox and Malik Monk all score at least 20 points and the Kings walk away from Denver with a 4-0 sweep on the season despite a monster triple-double from Nikola Jokic.
Kings 131, Nuggets 124
Fan Predictions
Link to Leaderboard (Updated 2/21/24)
