The Denver Nuggets aim to continue the winning run that sent them into the NBA All-Star break on Thursday when they visit the Sacramento Kings.
Thursday’s matchup is the first of two straight between Denver and Sacramento. The Nuggets went into All-Star weekend winners of three straight and five of their last six following their buzzer-beating, 117-116 win Feb. 16 at Golden State.
Monte Morris scored the game-winner last time out off an assist from reigning Most Valuable Player Nikola Jokic. Jokic again factors prominently into the MVP race with season averages of 26.0 points, a career-best 13.8 rebounds and 7.9 assists per game.
The three-time All-NBA honoree has buoyed Denver while playing without Michael Porter Jr., who last suited up Nov. 6 due to a back injury; and Jamal Murray, who has been sidelined the entire season after sustaining a torn ACL late in the 2020-21 campaign.
“We just fight,” Jokic told the Denver Post of the Nuggets’ surge to a 33-25 record through the break. “That’s the word for us right now, just fight.”
Fighting alongside Jokic are Will Barton and Aaron Gordon, who average 15.2 and 14.5 points per game, respectively. The addition of Bryn Forbes from San Antonio in a three-team January trade that sent Bol Bol and P.J. Dozier to Boston gives Denver a 3-point threat off the bench.
Forbes is shooting 42.9 percent from 3-point range in his 15 games with the Nuggets and averaging 10.6 points per game. He posted 16 and 22 points in Denver’s last two outings before the break, hitting a combined 7 of 11 shots from beyond the arc in the wins over Orlando and Golden State.
“Bryn’s a great shooter,” DeMarcus Cousins told the Colorado Springs Gazette following the 121-111 win over Orlando on Feb. 14. “We got guys that can make shots in that second unit, so I just try to make their job a little bit more easy.”
Forbes and Cousins both joined the Nuggets lineup after Denver’s last meeting with Sacramento, a 121-111 Nuggets win on Jan. 7.
The Kings have undergone their own roster changes since then, as well, adding Domantas Sabonis, Jeremy Lamb and Justin Holiday in a trade that sent Tyrese Haliburton, Buddy Hield and Tristan Thompson to Indiana.
The two-time All-Star Sabonis recorded double-doubles in three of his first four games with the Kings.
“Everybody wants to share the ball. We’re playing tough, playing aggressive, and I’m really excited for these last 22 games we have,” Sabonis said.
Sacramento returns from the break 3 1/2 games out of the last spot in the Western Conference play-in round. The Kings have the league’s longest current postseason drought, last making the field in 2005-06.
“This is a great start to begin building something special,” Sabonis said. “We have a lot of talented vets, a lot of young guys that are just motivated to do the right things.”
The young talent Sabonis joined is led by De’Aaron Fox. Fox is averaging 28 points per game in the short period since Sabonis came to Sacramento, and posted 33 points — his highest single-game total since Dec. 8 — in the Kings’ last outing before the break, a 125-118 loss at Chicago on Feb. 16.
