In a season that has already been overstuffed with theatrics, the Nuggets saved perhaps their most dramatic finish yet for the most dedicated viewers, escaping Sacramento after dark with a 130-129 win.
Denver blew a 23-point lead and then overcame a 10-point deficit in the last 4:10. There were seven lead changes in the last 75 seconds, culminating with Jamal Murray’s game-winning midrange jumper with eight seconds to go.
Murray’s magic trick
Murray’s uncanny ability to transform awful individual performances into clutch heat checks and game-winning shots is one of life’s great mysteries. He pulled it off again in Sacramento, scoring 15 of his team-leading 28 points in the fourth. Late in the third, he had disappeared gingerly to the locker room for a brief stint before checking back in. Just three days earlier, he revealed that he’s been dealing with plantar fasciitis in addition to a hamstring injury that sidelined him recently.
Denver’s two-man game took over in the final minute. Murray scored in the paint with 52 seconds left to take a 125-124 lead, assisted Nikola Jokic’s only made 3-pointer with 31 seconds left to reclaim a 128-127 advantage, then slithered around a Jokic screen from the left wing on the last possession to get to his step-back.
The point guard made his last five shots after starting the game 6 for 21 from the field. Nine of his points came in the last 4:10, during the decisive 21-10 run.
Murray is slowly inching his stats back up. After leading the Nuggets in scoring back-to-back games, he’s averaging 18.4 points (within 0.1 of Michael Porter Jr.) and shooting 34.8% from 3. Those numbers looked much worse at the beginning of December.
Breakneck pace, defense optional
The Nuggets have a transition defense problem that’s much bigger than one game. But this one encapsulated it appropriately.
In a game that was officiated inconsistently and executed sloppily, the Kings thrived on chaos more. They scored 30 fast break points, many of them uncontested as the Nuggets didn’t run back after turnovers. Denver is allowing 18.2 transition points per game, the fourth-most in the league.
The Nuggets allowed 47 points in the second quarter alone to undo their clinical start. They committed weak shooting fouls on layups and jumpers several times. In the last three minutes, De’Aaron Fox started running through the entire Denver defense for easy baskets.
All five Sacramento starters were in double figures at halftime, while Jokic was the lowest-scoring starter for either team, strangely reluctant to return the favor after Domantas Sabonis frequently rammed into him in the post. The Kings came back in the blink of an eye with physicality and speed. When Jokic played in drop coverage, he couldn’t do anything to slow down Sacramento’s momentum. But the Nuggets went to a zone late, and it threw off Sacramento just enough times.
Fox finished with 29 points. Sabonis went for 28, in addition to 14 rebounds and six assists. DeMar DeRozan drove past Jokic for an easy go-ahead baseline dunk in the last minute. But as the last five seconds ran down, he dropped a pass from Sabonis in the dunker spot, forcing himself into a tougher fadeaway look at the buzzer. It was the first possession to end empty-handed for either team since Sacramento’s turnover at the 1:35 mark.
With Braun out, Westbrook starts
Christian Braun was ruled out an hour before opening tip with a lower back strain, ending a streak of 122 consecutive games played for the 23-year-old guard. That included playoff games. The last time he didn’t appear in a game was May 22, 2023, in Game 4 of the Western Conference Finals against the Lakers. Braun now has eight DNPs in his three-year career. He had played in 153 of the last 154 games before Monday.
His first absence of the season created a new lineup scenario for Michael Malone to navigate, with Julian Strawther, Russell Westbrook and Peyton Watson each presenting viable options. Malone went with experience, playing Westbrook and Jamal Murray in a starting five together for the first time. Westbrook had a productive game, amassing an efficient 18 points, nine rebounds, 10 assists and three steals.
But to start him is to ask a lot of Murray as a 3-point shooter, and Murray has not shot the ball well this year. Through three quarters, the two guards had combined for one made 3-pointer, and the Nuggets were feeling the effects of that. Westbrook was 0 for 3.
But in a moment of restraint and maturity, he stopped himself from trying a fourth 3-pointer with 1:20 left, instead feeding Jokic at the foul line. The center scored an easy floater to give Denver the lead and set up the back-and-forth ending. (Jokic, in a footnote game individually, ended up with 20 points, 14 boards, 13 assists and three steals.)
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