Friday night was just not the Denver Nuggets night.
The Nuggets were fresh off a victory against the Los Angeles Lakers on Thursday, and the following day, they traveled to northern California to face off against the Sacramento Kings. While they admittedly did play a game the previous night, they certainly didn't do a good job of hiding how tired they were, and the end result was a blowout 135-106 loss.
The game remained close early, but the Kings were in control at halftime with a 67-57 lead. The floodgates opened in the second half, as the Kings built up a 32-point lead over the defending champs at one point. Denver would end up waiving the white flag fairly early as a result, and emptied their bench midway through the third period.
“This was probably one of our worst performances of the year,” Nuggets head coach Michael Malone said via AltitudeTV. “We just gotta regroup and get ready to go to Milwaukee.”
Article Continues BelowThe Nuggets came into the matchup a bit shorthanded due to injuries. Kentavious Caldwell-Pope was out due to hamstring soreness, and Michael Porter Jr. was out due to right knee tendinopathy. Justin Holiday and Peyton Watson both drew starts in place of Caldwell-Pope and Porter, but they only managed to combine for 14 points on the night.
Caldwell-Pope and Porter weren't the only banged-up Nuggets in this one, though. According to Katy Winge, Jamal Murray played through the game with a stomach virus and dealt with some tibia inflammation as well.
Despite being pulled a tad early, Jokic was the Nuggets leading scorer again against the Kings. He finished the game with 23 points, eight rebounds, and seven assists.
The Nuggets will round out their road trip with a big battle against the Milwaukee Bucks on Monday.