Denver Jan. 8 (US): The Denver Nuggets struggled to retain the lead in the third quarter of this season. When someone else was slipping away, the ruling MVP carried them.
Nikola Jokic had 12 of his top 33 points in the third quarter and 10 rebounds, and the Nuggets beat the Sacramento Kings 121-111 Friday night to end their two-game losing streak.
“For some reason we played sloppy in the third quarter and I tried to challenge them and he (Djokic) led the attack,” said Bobaye Jones, acting coach.
Jokic reached 20 points for the seventh game in a row as Denver got reinforcements from health and safety protocols, the Associated Press reported.
Strikers Jeff Green and Zeke Nnaji have been activated from the COVID-19 roster while Aaron Gordon and Bones Hyland play after being brought home from Thursday’s movie session due to non-COVID-19 illnesses.
Green scored 18 points, Hyland 13 and Gordon 10.
Denver coach Michael Malone has remained on health and safety protocols and has missed four consecutive games. Jones, in his first season as an assistant with the Nuggets, is 2-2 while serving as the acting head coach.
“Hopefully our lead singer will be back soon,” Jones said.
Diaron Fox scored 30 points for the Kings, his third consecutive game with 30 points or more. They lost three in a row and four out of five.
“We didn’t start well and we were playing hard from there,” said interim coach Alvin Gentry. “This is not a good team to play against.”
Denver used a 16-4 round in the first quarter to break open a close match.
The Kings cut it to five, but the Nuggets shot up 20 late per second on the Jokic 3 Index.
“We tried to give the Joker a lot of different looks,” Gentry said. “I thought we did a good job with him.
We took the ball from some of his hands but made it very easy for the other players.”
Sacramento closed in at 66-54 in the first half and opened the third at 12-4 to make it 70-66.
Jokic started to take over, scoring nine points in 1:28 to push the lead to 87-72.
“He is a tough goalkeeper. He can do a little bit of everything and today he was taking shots too, which made it even more difficult,” Alex Lynn said.
King cut the difference to eight, but the Nuggets went 17-5 in the fourth quarter to pull away.
Hint
Kings: F Richaun Holmes and C Chimezie Metu are still in health and safety protocols. Sacramento made Nemeas Quetta, Jhummus Ramsay and Robert Woodard II available Friday night. …Terrence Davis (ankle) was available after missing five games.
Nuggets: F Petr Cornelie got into health and safety protocols Friday morning. …flatko Kankar underwent surgery on Friday morning to repair a fracture in his fifth metatarsal.
He was injured on Monday in Dallas. …Assistant coach Jordi Fernandez is back from COVID-19 health and safety protocols.
drawing party
The Nuggets took advantage of the open fairways to score a season high of 70 paint points. Denver had 11 dives, two from Greene in the last minute of the third quarter, and both from Vaco Campazzo’s assists.
“I just play it. Facu magic,” said Greene. “It makes it work with his speed, his swiping ability, and the only thing I have to do is adjust the screen and roll. He does all the hard work.”
Denver finished with 32 assists, seven each for Jokic and Campazzo.
“We made some great passes, got everyone involved, and that’s how we have to play,” said Jamishal Green. “We did a great job playing with the Joker.”
next one
Kings: In Portland on Sunday night.
Nuggets: In Oklahoma City on Sunday night.