Kings Comeback Effort Falls Short Against Nuggets

With a chance to clinch the ninth seed, the shorthanded Sacramento Kings fell short against the Denver Nuggets.

Apr 9, 2025; Sacramento, California, USA; Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokic (15) controls the ball against Sacramento Kings guard Keon Ellis (23) during the second quarter at Golden 1 Center. Mandatory Credit: Ed Szczepanski-Imagn Images | Ed Szczepanski-Imagn Images

After a Dallas Mavericks loss earlier in the night, the Sacramento Kings had a chance to clinch the ninth seed in the Western Conference and the home court advantage in the first Play-In game, but fell 116-124 to the Denver Nuggets.

The Nuggets never led by a considerable amount, with their biggest lead being just 16, but they consistently led by double digits and never let the Kings close the gap or get the lead back. Sacramento led for less than a minute in this contest in the second quarter, thanks to a surprising Doug McDermott heater off the bench.

While McDermott coming in and scoring nine quick points is great, it shows the position the Kings were in tonight with injuries to Malik Monk, Keegan Murray, and Jake LaRavia. In the end, it once again resulted in Doug Christie relying on the starters, with four of the five playing over 37 minutes, and Keon Ellis playing 32:29.

But they fought and never gave up, which is everything Christie has asked for since he took over as interim head coach. The win would have been great, but the concept and execution of playing well may be more important at this point of the season with the Kings postseason positioning all but locked up.

The Kings need either one more win or a Dallas Mavericks loss to lock up the ninth seed. The Nuggets meanwhile, need every win they can get in the Western Conference battle at the top of the standings.

Kings lose to the Nuggets 124-116.

They are still in 9th, and only need 1 win or a Mavs loss to clinch a home play-in game, but a bit of a buzzkill after the last two wins.

Kings play the Clippers (who have a ton to play for) Friday.

— Matt George (@MattGeorgeSAC) April 10, 2025

Sacramento did a relatively good job of slowing down Nikola Jokić, who finished the night with 20 points, 12 rebounds, and 11 rebounds for another triple-double. They forced him to be a facilitator, as Jokić only took 12 shots. But as he so often does, Jokić found his open teammates time and time again, carving up the Kings defense when they double-teamed him.

It's a pick-your-poison battle with Jokić and the Nuggets, and tonight they beat Sacramento with the balanced approach with all five starters scoring over 18 points.

That combined with their length and ability to put Aaron Gordon on DeMar DeRozan made life challenging for Sacramento all night. DeRozan finished the night with 22 points, but on 8-of-26 (30.8%) from the field.

While DeRozan led the team in field goal attempts, Zach LaVine led the team with 27 points on 10-of-20 from the field and 4-of-8 from beyond the arc. It's wild to think that that feels like an off night for LaVine after back-to-back games where he went nuclear from three-point range.

Just like the Kings forced Jokić to be a facilitator, the Nuggets forced LaVine into the same role. LaVine finished with a season-high 11 assists. It's just the fifth game in his career he's had 11 or more assists.

For a Kings team that is without a point guard, they'll need everyone to step up as distributors, and LaVine upping his assists numbers would be a huge boost with the play-in tournament approaching and the Malik Monk injury.

Sacramento finishes the season with two games against the Los Angeles Clippers and Phoenix Suns as they look to lock up the home-court advantage for the play-in game.