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0 In Friday night’s NBA game, the Sacramento Kings dominated the Denver Nuggets with a decisive 135-106 victory. The game was notable for the impressive performance of Domantas Sabonis, who had 17 points, 17 rebounds, and 10 assists, breaking a tie with Nikola Jokic for the NBA triple-double lead with 16. Sabonis’ exceptional performance was vital in helping the Kings win the game.
Jokic, who has been the NBA triple-double leader for the last two seasons, had an impressive performance as well, with 23 points, eight rebounds, and seven assists. However, he fell short of keeping pace with Sabonis. The defending champion Nuggets lost for the first time in four games and missed a chance to move past the Minnesota Timberwolves for the top spot in the Western Conference.
In addition to Sabonis’ performance, Malik Monk added 23 points for the Kings, while De’Aaron Fox had 15 points, 10 assists, and five steals. Keegan Murray scored 17 points. The Kings’ bench also outscored the Nuggets’ bench 65-42.
Sabonis’ performance is a major reason why the Kings are still in contention in their quest to make back-to-back appearances in the postseason since 2004-06. He is attempting to become the second Kings player in the Sacramento era to lead the NBA in triple-doubles. Chris Webber shared the league lead of five with Jason Kidd during the 1999-2000 season.
The Nuggets were playing on the second half of a back-to-back after beating the Lakers in Los Angeles on Thursday night. Aaron Gordon scored 14 points for Denver, while Christian Braun added 13, and Jamal Murray had 12. However, the team’s self-inflicted errors, including 21 turnovers that led to 37 points for the Kings, were a major factor in their loss.
Kings coach Mike Brown was pleased with his team’s performance, saying, “I told our guys, ‘I believe in you. You guys have a chance to be great. It shouldn’t take a loss like we had for us to lock in like we did tonight. It’s up to us to lock in, focus on the small details and go out there and perform for 48 minutes from start to finish. If we do, we’ll be happy where we are at the end of the year.” The Kings rebounded from a loss to the lowly Detroit Pistons to beat the Nuggets. One of the biggest plays of the night was when Monk stole an inbounds pass and made a 3-pointer at the buzzer to end the first quarter.
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