Uncalled-for: Nuggets’ Supporters Furious at the Club not Leveraging on Nikola Jokic’s 30-point triple-double

The Denver Nuggets’ four-game winning streak came to an end on Saturday night in Sacramento, where the Kings built a 17-point lead in the first half and hung on for a 123-117 victory.

Denver (14-7) has three days off after playing five games in seven days before hosting the Clippers on Wednesday.

In the first six weeks of the 2023-24 season, the defending champions were one of just three NBA teams to have five back-to-backs. After a short offseason, the Nuggets were dealt an awful draw, but they have managed to turn lemons into lemonade for the most part, winning the second game of all four back-to-backs until Sacramento (Utah, Chicago, at Detroit, at Los Angeles). In two of the four, Nikola Jokic was unavailable during crunch time.

It was only a matter of time before that good fortune ran out, and Sacramento had just returned from a two-day break. Overall, it’s noteworthy that Denver has only allowed 106.6 points per game in the second game of a back-to-back so far. Another will be on the road in a week, first in Atlanta and then in Chicago.

Jamal Murray did not play for the Nuggets again, missing the whole back-to-back road trip after returning from a hamstring injury earlier in the week. While Jokic recorded his 27th career 30-point triple-double (36, 13, 14) by hitting a slew of unbelievable 2-pointers, the Nuggets were without Murray’s hot shooting. They couldn’t go outside and buy a basket.

Denver shot 6-for-25 beyond the arc, while allowing the Kings to make 16 of 34 attempts from three. The only stretch of the game in which the Nuggets discovered something was a late 10-0 run to close within three points in the fourth quarter. Aaron Gordon and Jokic made key threes during the comeback effort.

Jokic bounced back from a scoring “off” night in Phoenix (21 points) by amassing 16 points in the first quarter. He checked out late in the quarter with the Nuggets leading 27-19. During his rest minutes, the Kings went on a 23-7 run as JaVale McGee blocked shots and controlled the paint against a struggling DeAndre Jordan, who had played well in recent games. This was a regression for Jordan, who played 9:50 while Michael Malone continued to not play Zeke Nnaji.

Denver’s bench was a leading culprit as Sacramento scored 39 points in the second quarter and opened up the double-digit lead that the Nuggets were fighting back from the rest of the night. By halftime, bench points were already 26-9 Sacramento.

Peyton Watson, on the other hand, was a tremendous plus defensively for the second game in a row. He backed up his strong second half against Kevin Durant with a strong showing against De’Aaron Fox and other Kings players. With 2:30 left in the game and Denver down 114-110, Malone attempted to check Watson in for a defensive possession, but referees said he didn’t arrive at the table in time and refused to let him in. More than a minute elapsed without a dead ball while Watson returned to the bench. Malik Monk capped his 26-point night off the bench with a dagger three with 1:11 remaining.