Sacramento Kings forward Justin Holiday (9) is fouled by Denver Nuggets forward Will Barton, right, at Ball Arena in Denver on Sat Feb 26, 2022 (AP News photo)

Kings Falls Short Losing To Denver 115-110

By Barbara Mason

Saturday night the Sacramento Kings (22-40) took on the Denver Nuggets (35-25). The Nuggets are sixth in the Western Conference while the struggling Kings are 13th in the Conference. Denver is heavily favored in this home game at Ball Arena.

The Kings will be without Richaun Holmes and will rely heavily on De’Aaron Fox. They will have the unenviable task of containing Denver’s Nikola Jokic.

After one quarter the Nuggets had taken a 38-30 lead over the Kings. The Nuggets were able to maintain the lead until the final minutes of the second quarter when the Kings really began to heat up. With a little over two minutes left in the half, the Nuggets led by nine points.

The Kings would chip away at the Denver lead and with one minute left in the second quarter trailed by a single point. At halftime the Kings had tied the game at 59.

This was a real turn of momentum for the Kings, momentum that they needed to take into the third quarter. De’Aaron Fox led Sacramento with 13 points followed by Harrison Barnes with nine points. Aaron Gordon led the Nuggets with 16 points and Monte Morris finished the half with 14 points.

With under three minutes left in he third quarter the Kings had kept up the pressure on the Nuggets leading 84-77. Big man Domantas Sabonis had eight rebounds and seven assists through three quarters and it was the defensive play of Sacramento that was keeping them in this game. After three quarters the game was dead even at 85 points apiece.

The Nuggets would start the fourth quarter with a 9-0 run taking a 94-85 lead in the early minutes of the final quarter. The Kings would start to chip away at Denver’s lead cutting the Nuggets advantage to 94-92. With under two minutes left in the game it was again tied at 107. At 39.8 this game remained tied at 110.

The game would turn out to be the last team with the ball coming a with the win. The Kings had every chance to win this game but just could not hang with the Nuggets at the very end. The final was 115-110 in favor of Denver.

Fox had the high score for the Kings with 26 points and Barnes finished with 24. Jeremy Lamb had 12 off the bench and Sabonis had a great game with 16 rebounds.

Next up for the Kings will be a meeting with the Thunder Monday night in Oklahoma. Tipoff is scheduled for 5:00 PM.