Sacramento has impressive wins over Milwaukee and Golden State this season, but not much else has gone right for the Kings.
Sacramento will attempt to halt an eight-game losing streak on Saturday night when it visits the Denver Nuggets.
The Kings won’t have Domantas Sabonis, who is out for three to four weeks with a meniscus tear, to match up with Nikola Jokic. Sacramento will lean even more on leading scorer Zach LaVine, who is averaging 21.9 points per game, and DeMar DeRozan (17.9) in the absence of its leading rebounder.
Russell Westbrook, who has been a spark off the bench, is averaging 13.7 ppg.
The Kings will have Keegan Murray, who returned to the lineup Thursday with 11 points in a 137-96 loss to Memphis. Murray had offseason thumb surgery.
Sacramento has lost every game on this skid by double digits, and four of them were by 27 points or more. The frustration is showing for a team that had hopes of reaching the playoffs but has started this season 3-13.
“I think it’s just everything right now for us is just (bad), honestly,” DeRozan told the Sacramento Bee. “Sometimes when you’re in the deep end, it’s hard to hear anything. You’re just trying to swim your way out, one way or another. Don’t nobody want to lose the way we’ve been losing.”
The Nuggets will take on the Kings less than 24 hours after a 112-109 victory at Houston on Friday night. It turned into a costly victory when Denver forward Aaron Gordon left the game in the first four minutes with a right hamstring injury. He likely is out for Saturday night.
Gordon sat out Wednesday’s win at New Orleans to manage the injury but went down on a drive just 3:18 into Friday’s game. The Nuggets still are without guard Christian Braun, who is expected to miss another month with a left ankle sprain.
Gordon is third on Denver in scoring at 18.8 points per game. Jokic, at 29.5 ppg, leads the Nuggets, and his 13.0 rebounds and 11.0 assists are tops in the NBA.
Jamal Murray, who had 26 points and 10 assists against the Rockets, is second on the team at 22.8 points a game.
Peyton Watson has moved into the starting lineup with Braun down and has made key plays. He had a career-high 32 points to go with 12 rebounds, also a career best, Wednesday night and grabbed 10 rebounds in Friday’s victory.
Watson is averaging 1.1 blocks a game, and he had a big one on Alperen Sengun with 37 seconds left and Denver clinging to a four-point lead.
“He’s really starting to get better at picking his spots, not feeling like he has to force his shot every time, run the floor, setting good screens. The little stuff gives him confidence throughout the game,” Murray said of Watson on Prime after the game. “When he makes shots, that adds to it.”
