FOURTH QUARTER (Kings 102, Nuggets 100)
Regardless if the Denver Nuggets are at full strength or not, the Kings have found a contender they can beat.
Tyreke Evans hit a fadeaway jumper with 0.7 seconds left to give the Kings the win over the Nuggets.
Evans finished with 27 points, the final two answering a clutch three-pointer by Chauncey Billups that tied the game at 100 with 11 seconds left in the game.
Spencer Hawes was benched in favor of Jon Brockman and responded with one of his best games. Hawes had 17 points off the bench and was key in the fourth quarter for the Kings (15-21).
Brockman was a monster on the glass as usual with 12 rebounds.
Billups had 27 points for the Nuggets (23-14). Kenyon Martin and JR Smith each had 20 points for Denver, which was without Carmelo Anthony.
This is the second time the Kings have beaten the Nuggets without one of its stars. Billups did not play last month when the Kings won, 106-101.
Evans also missed that game.
--Jason Jones
THIRD QUARTER (Nuggets 76, Kings 73)
The Kings looked like a team still in the funk that began in the fourth quarter last night in Oakland against the Golden State Warriors.
They appear to be out of it now.
Maybe it was Paul Westphal's playful protest at the end of the second quarter. Perhaps the Kings just didn't want to be embarrassed at home. But they looked like a different team after halftime.
The Kings opened up the third on a 13-2 run to tie the game at 56 and led briefly, 63-61.
Tyreke Evans exploited mismatches and now has 17 points. Beno Udrih finally found his shooting stroke for nine pints in the third. Omri Casspi and Evans each had seven in the third.
Chauncey Billups leads Denver with 20 points, 10 coming in the third.
--Jason Jones
SECOND QUARTER (Nuggets 54, Kings 43)
Paul Westphal is one frustrated and funny man.
The Kings coach wasn't attempting to be humorous with his late second-quarter protest, but he had fans and media like laughing at how he chose to express his displeasure with the officials. After watching what he thought was a Nuggets loose ball foul go uncalled and be followed by a Chauncey Billups three-pointer and 51-38 Denver lead, Westphal laid into officials James Capers and Mark Lindsay for nearly two minutes with a tirade that included "nobody has anybody idea what you guys are calling."
When Lindsay finally called a technical, Westphal yelled "Yeah, that's right," and then took a different tactic. He peeked down the floor at a content Nuggets coach George Karl sitting peacefully on his side of press row.
So Westphal assumed an identical position on his side of the floor - seated on the cushion, arms crossed, not making a sound.
"I'll be happy like George, then maybe you'll treat me like George," he explained to the refs.
After the halftime buzzer sounded, Westphal remained while staring at an officiating crew that refused to acknowledge his extended presence.
Yet that didn't work, nor did anything else for the Kings. They have given up a combined 32 points to Joey Graham, Kenyon Martin and Billups and 50 percent shooting overall. The Kings are shooting just 41.5 percent, with Tyreke Evans and Ime Udoka scoring 10 points apiece. Westphal has been trying everything tonight, from starting Jon Brockman to even using Kenny Thomas again.
But with a horrific assist-to-turnover ratio of four to 11 and an offense that is atrocious to this point, the Kings find themselves in quite a hole. - Sam Amick
FIRST QUARTER (Nuggets 26, Kings 19)
A good night's sleep didn't cure the Kings' execution problems.
They had seven turnovers and shot 40 percent (8 of 20) in a sloppy first quarter in which ball movement was about as prominent as Paul Westphal atta-boys. There wasn't much of either, as there was a grand total of one assist.
Omri Casspi was the obvious mascot of the team's frustration, shaking his head during numerous possessions when the ball was pounded far too much. Casspi, Jason Thompson and Jon Brockman (who started in place of Spencer Hawes) are a combined 3 of 12.
The Kings, of course, are coming off an ugly fourth quarter at Golden State on Friday night in which they struggled with many of these same problems. - Sam Amick
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