Home Basketball Nikola Jokic 38pts but Kings defeat Nuggets 123-117 despite Jokic’s eighth triple-double of the season

Nikola Jokic 38pts but Kings defeat Nuggets 123-117 despite Jokic’s eighth triple-double of the season

Basketball — 12/03/2023

The Sacramento Kings defeated the Denver Nuggets 123-117 on Saturday night, spoiling Nikola Jokic’s NBA-leading seventh triple-double. De’Aaron Fox scored 26 points and a career-high 16 assists, and Malik Monk hit a critical 3-pointer late in the fourth quarter.

Kings overcome Jokic's 8th triple-double of the season, beat Nuggets 123-117

The Kings led comfortably for the majority of the game before Denver used its greatest run of the night to pull within 112-110 with four minutes remaining on Jokic’s only 3-pointer of the game.

Fox then hit a contested jumper in the key before Monk’s corner 3-pointer with 1:11 left in the game to secure it as chants of “Light the beam!” rang out. “Light the beam” erupted within Golden 1 Center.

“Fantastic, fantastic night from our best player when we needed it the most,” said Kings coach Mike Brown of Fox. “He has to step up in games like this for us to win.”

Jokic ended with 36 points, 14 assists, and 13 rebounds, his 114th career triple-double. Going into the night, the rest of the NBA had a total of eight triple-doubles.

Nikola Jokic Makes NBA History vs. Kings | Yardbarker

“You’ll never stop (Jokic) with only one guy. “A lot of the time, even with the entire team, you probably won’t be able to stop him,” Fox said. “You just want to make sure the other guys don’t get too far ahead.” When they do, it’s basically “choose your poison” with that team.”

Monk had 26 points. Domantas Sabonis had 17 points, 15 rebounds, and seven assists to round out the scoring.

Reggie Jackson led the Nuggets with 20 points, and Aaron Gordon returned to the lineup after missing four games with a right heel strain. Gordon finished with 17 points and seven rebounds.

Kings overcome Jokic's eighth triple-double of the season, beat Nuggets 123-117

It wasn’t enough to keep the Nuggets from winning a third straight road game for the first time since the playoffs last season.

“I think our fifth game in seven nights had a lot to do with it,” Nuggets coach Mike Malone said. “We were defeated in the second quarter.” That’s where the game went wrong.”

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Jokic scored 16 points in the first quarter to help the Nuggets take a 30-25 lead.

When Jokic went to the bench in the second quarter, the Kings went on a 17-4 run punctuated by Monk’s drive and pass to JaVale McGee for an easy dunk.