The Denver Nuggets avoided the trap game Tuesday night with a 126-112 win against the Sacramento Kings Tuesday night at Pepsi Center.
Playing its third contest in four days, Denver’s meeting with Sacramento came two days after a thrilling win against the two-time defending champion Golden State Warriors and two days before a primetime meeting against LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers Thursday.
The Nuggets, the league’s top defensive team through its first three contests, took care of business, holding the Kings to their lowest point total of the season to remain undefeated and maintain their spot atop the Western Conference standings.
“It was a good win,” Nuggets coach Michael Malone said. “Obviously, not the defense that we had hoped for, but were not going to hold everybody below 100.”
Third-year Nuggets point guard Jamal Murray exploded for 13 points in the third quarter to finish with a team-high 19 in addition to four assists and a steal. Shooting guard Gary Harris poured in 11 of his 18 points in the first quarter, to go along with five assists and three rebounds in a game during which Denver rested its starters the entire fourth quarter.
The Nuggets led 68-55 at the half and never looked back, on its way to its 10th straight win at home, dating back to last season.
Reigning Western Conference Player of the Week Denver center Nikola Jokic posted a double-double in the first half and filled out the stat sheet, 14 points, 12 rebounds and six assists. Power forward Paul Millsap had his best offensive performance of the season, scoring 15 points on 60 percent shooting from the field and snatching down five rebounds.
“It’s good to see Paul Millsap kind of get going,” Malone said. “He went at his matchup. He scored. If he can get into an offensive rhythm and find some confidence, it’s going to help us out a lot.”
Trey Lyles led three Nuggets reserves, who finished in double-figures in scoring, with 12 points followed by Monte Morris (who also added seven assists), Malik Beasley Mason Plumlee, each of whom had 11.
The Nuggets shot 58.8 percent from the field and outrebounded the Kings 49-39. Denver also connected on 13 of its 15 free-throw attempts (86.7 percent) after missing 18 from the charity stripe against the Warriors Sunday and scored 72 points in the paint against the Kings.
Kings forward Marvin Bagley, the second overall pick in the 2018 draft, led the Kings with a game-high 20 points while grabbing nine rebounds. Justin Jackson added 17 points. Iman Shumpert had 12. Willie Cauley-Stein added 11 as did Yogi Ferrell and Nemanja Bjelica had 10.
The Denver Nuggets will travel to Los Angeles to take on the Lakers Thursday at 8:30 p.m. That game will be aired live on TNT and streamed on TNT Overtime.