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For the Kings, this is "to be or not to be" game for their tiny playoff hopes after they lost last two games by wasting a notable lead in the finish of the 4th quarter, so instead of a 21-16 TOP8, they are already out of playoff now.

Denver is much better this season on the road than previous, but we still have problems to beat some teams we are clearly much stronger (@ATL, @CHA, @MEM, and we played OT @CHI), so this is a very tricky game. As we know, Malone is former Kings coach, and he started his h2h vs Sacramento losing first 5 games, but after that Denver was 6-1, so let's hope this late streak in Nuggets favor will continue.

Millsap was almost invisible in the first game after comeback, Gary Harris too. But in the 2nd game, Millsap is already good, so I think no reasons to not back his starter job, and I hope Harris will also be good in his 2nd game, we need him today in key matchups vs Hield and Bogdanovic.

With 40+ games to be played , hard to think this is a must win for the Kings. However I do agree this will be a game to find out where they stack up in their playoff run.

I've watched most of the Kings games this year and they remind me a lot of last year's Nuggets. To me that means they can beat anyone if they get hot but they have trouble playing consistently throughout an entire game. Their fans can be loud. This could be a tough game for us. If we can get an early lead and keep gradually increasing it, we should be okay. On the other hand, our guys have proven able to control the 4th quarter fairly well this year. It could be a very interesting game.

Looks like Bagley won't play tonight, can't hurt for us

Looks like Gary Harris is back....

What Malone trying to prove with giving Plumlee and Craig starter job over Harris and Millsap? Triangle Jokic-Plumlee-Craig is worst for Jokic passing skills, and Jokic and Plumlee together on floor are always good matchup for opponent PF, so no surprise Bjelica looked like all-star in 1st half.

Just saw the box, seems Murray wanted to put those Murray-Hield comparisons. What a 2nd half explosion !!!

THE J0KER wrote:What Malone trying to prove with giving Plumlee and Craig starter job over Harris and Millsap? Triangle Jokic-Plumlee-Craig is worst for Jokic passing skills, and Jokic and Plumlee together on floor are always good matchup for opponent PF, so no surprise Bjelica looked like all-star in 1st half.

Think Malone is just trying to bring our injured back slowly while rebuilding chemistry. Seems he’s also building Murray’s confidence. A fantastic 2nd half, another less ugly win, chill out I’m sure Millsap and Harris will be back in the starting lineup shortly

THE J0KER wrote:What Malone trying to prove with giving Plumlee and Craig starter job over Harris and Millsap? Triangle Jokic-Plumlee-Craig is worst for Jokic passing skills, and Jokic and Plumlee together on floor are always good matchup for opponent PF, so no surprise Bjelica looked like all-star in 1st half.

Seems like he’s trying to prove he’s coaching the best team in the Western Comference. So far he’s doing pretty well, so maybe stop complaining?

Jokic and Murray outclassed Kings in 2nd half, so we survived that -13 deficit on halftime. Sadly Murray scored just 2 points in 1st half, he is ready tonight for his 1st career 50+ game, or at least for another 45+.

manchambo wrote:

THE J0KER wrote:What Malone trying to prove with giving Plumlee and Craig starter job over Harris and Millsap? Triangle Jokic-Plumlee-Craig is worst for Jokic passing skills, and Jokic and Plumlee together on floor are always good matchup for opponent PF, so no surprise Bjelica looked like all-star in 1st half.

Seems like he’s trying to prove he’s coaching the best team in the Western Comference. So far he’s doing pretty well, so maybe stop complaining?

We are just lucky Murray played 2nd half on peak-Bryant level, otherwise this should be an necessary loss. Last game Jokic played 35 minutes and Plumlee minutes was reduced on 23 minutes because of Millsap comeback. But for some unknown reason today Jokic minutes are reduced on 31 and Plumlee played 30, so Jokic assists down from 15 to 6.

THE J0KER wrote:

manchambo wrote:

THE J0KER wrote:What Malone trying to prove with giving Plumlee and Craig starter job over Harris and Millsap? Triangle Jokic-Plumlee-Craig is worst for Jokic passing skills, and Jokic and Plumlee together on floor are always good matchup for opponent PF, so no surprise Bjelica looked like all-star in 1st half.

Seems like he’s trying to prove he’s coaching the best team in the Western Comference. So far he’s doing pretty well, so maybe stop complaining?

We are just lucky Murray played 2nd half on peak-Bryant level, otherwise this should be an necessary loss. Last game Jokic played 35 minutes and Plumlee minutes was reduced on 23 minutes because of Millsap comeback. But for some unknown reason today Jokic minutes are reduced on 31 and Plumlee played 30, so Jokic assists down from 15 to 6.

From what you wrote it comes across you’re more interested in Jokic getting his stats than getting any rest or the win

The Nuggets are winning - that's great.
The Nuggets are not moving when they don't have the ball and when Jokic has the ball with people moving - that's our best offense. Jokic's assists number is perhaps the most significant stat regarding the Nuggets' offense and 6 assists is okay but not great.

Did you notice the rebounding was 54-33, favoring the Nuggets? Impressive!

skywalker33 wrote:From what you wrote it comes across you’re more interested in Jokic getting his stats than getting any rest or the win

More minutes playing time for LeBron, Curry, Durant, Harden, Giannis, Leonard, Embiid, Lillard, Davis... bigger chances for their teams to win a game! Jokic is also one of such very elite, so-called 'franchise players', and no way there exist any correct formula which approved the fact that all others franchise players tend to play 35+ minutes, only Nikola Jokic around 30 (except in the case when 3 starters are injured in the same time).

Note that difference between Jokic playing 30 and playing 36 minutes is not just -20%, but it is actually 50% bigger time Nuggets playing without the best player (18 minutes compared to 12)! In the first half of this game Jokic was the only Denver player which played good (+decent Harris) with 19 pts already and has one single foul, so no excuse why he played only 15 minutes (and Nuggets are -11 in these 9 minutes without him). And don't tell me that it is just part of Malone great vision and master plan to extra-motivate Murray to do what he does in the 2nd half.

I don't think the black&white type of discussion is the best, so when Denver win everything is good, and when Nuggets loses than everything is bad.

Seemed like at first half I was watching untalented Murray's twin in his uniform. Second half he was incredible. Usually Nuggets win because they are so deep. This game was all about two guys, rest was just the extras.

TBH if I was a Kings fan I'd be probably bashing refs. They gave us several calls.


Watched it at Sacramento's broadcast and their guy was awesome. When Jamal shot that three with a foul- "A basket would make it very difficult for Sacramentoooooo.... That's a ballgame...."

From what I see, Jokic is very very out of shape. He had that one play where he drove to the basket and dunked it and ran back and it looked as if he got winded immediately after because he was slower with defensive assignment and using his hands to foul rather than defend the shots. I think he still is a very good basketball player fatigued or not, but he needs to hit the gym and really work on his athleticism and body. I really wonder if he still drinks 2-3 liters of coke a day when the media is watching. Come playoff time we will be screwed unless Jokic can pull off playing closer to 40 minutes a night and I’m just not sure he’s ready for that yet. Depth helps in the regular season but Will not help us when we’re going up against players like Harden, KD, Steph, LeBron, and many more for 40+ minutes a game.

SlayOrNay wrote:From what I see, Jokic is very very out of shape. He had that one play where he drove to the basket and dunked it and ran back and it looked as if he got winded immediately after because he was slower with defensive assignment and using his hands to foul rather than defend the shots. I think he still is a very good basketball player fatigued or not, but he needs to hit the gym and really work on his athleticism and body. I really wonder if he still drinks 2-3 liters of coke a day when the media is watching. Come playoff time we will be screwed unless Jokic can pull off playing closer to 40 minutes a night and I’m just not sure he’s ready for that yet. Depth helps in the regular season but Will not help us when we’re going up against players like Harden, KD, Steph, LeBron, and many more for 40+ minutes a game.

Lots of people that never watch the Nuggets like to complain about Jokic's conditioning. If he's in adequate condition is difficult to determine since his game is not predicated upon his athleticism. Charles Barkley was always considered "out of shape" but it never seemed to hurt his game. Different sport but most NFL linemen are very large and considered out-of-shape by people that just look at them and don't know who they are, yet some of them can run rather fast and show remarkable agility.

Since Jokic's game is clearly not based on speed or athleticism, no doubt he can play even when others perceive him as being tired. As for Jokic needing to play "closer to 40 minutes a night", Jokic averages 31 mpg - why doesn't he average more? Ask Malone! One way for players to get in condition is to play them more minutes during the year.

Jokic is in shape.
Round is a shape.

Don't you wonder what Malone said to Murray at halftime?