Everybody lined up for their turn to miss a slam dunk Wednesday night.
Peyton Watson going for glory on a fast break. Michael Porter Jr. trying to put back a Nikola Jokic miss. Reggie Jackson turning down the layup option on a drive. Grandest of all, DeAaron Fox hammering a doink off the back of the rim and all the way out to mid-court.
It was that kind of game at Ball Arena, the last before the All-Star break, and the shorthanded Nuggets fell flat last in a 102-98 loss to the exhausted Kings.
Denver (36-19) will go into the break on a three-game losing streak after a 93-89 lead fizzled with an 11-0 Sacramento run in the last three minutes. Fox bounded around tired Denver defenders during that run: a blow-by of Porter, a floater after Aaron Gordon got caught on a screen trying to deny a switch — he was the Nuggets’ most trustworthy defender on the floor at that point, and Sacramento was determined to free Fox of him.
“Too many mistakes down the stretch,” Nuggets coach Michael Malone said. “Some guys just making things up defensively.”
Gordon’s late 3-pointer cut the deficit to 102-98. After Watson stole the inbound pass, Gordon missed the next shot in a desperate attempt at a Tracy McGrady moment. Jokic missed two more 3s after offensive rebounds until time finally ran out.
The Kings have won all three matchups against the defending champions this season. In the first two, the Nuggets were finishing road back-to-backs. This time, it was Sacramento’s turn.
But the Nuggets were missing starters Jamal Murray and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, both cautionary holdouts to get a head start on a week without games. Jackson and Justin Holiday started; Collin Gillespie was at the scorer’s table ready to check in as Denver’s sixth man five minutes into the game.
Gordon was the one Nugget who was getting shots to fall, all by sheer force of will. He amassed a gritty 25 points and 15 rebounds, shooting 8 of 15 from the field and 8 of 8 at the free throw line.
“Just too many breakdowns,” Gordon said. “We were doing things that we didn’t go over in the defensive gameplan.”
Jokic had his worst shooting game in more than a month (6 of 17, 15 points) and had to be saved from an ejection by an intervening Michael Malone in the third quarter. Michael Porter Jr.’s 19 points came on 17 attempts. Jackson was a huge boost as a facilitator — nine assists — but an inefficient scorer.
“Against Milwaukee, we were 8 of 30 on wide open 3s,” Malone said. “So after the game, they talked about: They locked us up. We generated 30 wide open 3s. The nearest defender was from me to you. We made eight. So we’re not making shots.”
The Nuggets opened up a 35-20 lead in the second quarter with a refreshing dose of two-way tenacity from the bench. Zeke Nnaji took advantage of his minutes at backup center, scoring once as a roller and another time using a skilled post move. He went into the All-Star break with an eight-point, two-rebound effort.
On a night of unpredictable runs and rhythms, the Kings scored 10 straight to get within 35-30, only to go the next 3:20 without scoring. During that span, the Nuggets held their guests to 0-for-6 shooting and two turnovers. Sacramento had coughed it up 11 times by halftime.
“At least we defended tonight,” Malone said, referencing his team’s consecutive poor performances in Sacramento and Milwaukee before Wednesday.