The Sacramento Kings will hope to keep a recent run of great basketball going Monday night when they head to the Pepsi Center to face the Denver Nuggets.
The Kings have won two in a row and the victories came over some impressive teams. Sacramento dispatched the Portland Trail Blazers at home on Friday, then bested the Los Angeles Clippers, 98-92, Sunday afternoon at the Staples Center.
"It feels good to come in here and get a win. This is definitely a confidence booster," point guard Darren Collison said.
DeMarcus Cousins had 34 points, 17 rebounds and three blocks in the win.
Rudy Gay added 25 points, seven boards and six assists for the Kings, who fell to Golden State in their opener. Darren Collison tallied 14 points and no other Sacramento player scored in double figures.
The Kings shot 50 percent from the field and held the mighty Clippers' offense to 37.5 field-goal shooting and 29 percent from beyond the 3-point line.
The Nuggets began the season with a home victory over the Detroit Pistons, but fell Saturday night to the Oklahoma City Thunder, 102-91, at Chesapeake Energy Arena.
Denver showed some fight in the loss against OKC. The Nuggets trailed by 26 at one point, but cut the deficit to just three points. Serge Ibaka and Perry Jones both nailed 3-pointers that ended Denver's hopes.
"We didn't execute the way we wanted to," point guard Ty Lawson said of the slow start. "We didn't come to play."
Lawson netted 14 of his 25 points in the final quarter, but it was too little, too late for the visitors. Arron Afflalo scored 14 and Timofey Mozgov chipped in 10 points.
In stark contrast to a Thunder team that featured eight healthy players due to not just injuries to Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook, but almost every two guard on the roster, the Nuggets saw 10 players get at least 13 minutes of game action. All 11 players who checked in, scored for Denver, but only managed 28 points.
These two teams will meet Wednesday night in Sacramento.
The Nuggets are 11-3 in their last 14 meetings with the Kings, although Sacramento did win two of three during the 2013-14 season. When the Kings won at the Pepsi Center on Feb. 23, it snapped a nine-game series road losing streak.
[SportsNetwork.com]
