Nuggets at Kings
THE STORY: The Denver Nuggets own the NBA’s best home record since the start of the 2007-08 season (138-33). This new phenomenon of winning on the road, though, could take Denver to a place it has never been. The Nuggets will try for their first perfect five-game road trip in team history when they visit the struggling Sacramento Kings on Wednesday. The Nuggets are coming off a wild 119-114 double overtime victory at New York on Saturday and were able to sleep in their own beds for a couple nights before continuing their trip to California. The Kings have lost two straight by a combined 45 points, including a 101-89 defeat at Portland on Monday. Denver has won three straight meetings and five of the last six, including a 110-83 romp at home in the season’s first encounter Jan. 4.
TV: 10 p.m. ET, Altitude (Denver), CS California (Sacramento)
ABOUT THE NUGGETS (12-5): Denver is two games behind Oklahoma City in the rugged Northwest Division. The Nuggets are 6-3 on the road, but 80-93 away from home since 2007-08. Denver’s depth – it is second in the league with 43.2 bench points per game – and up-tempo style makes it a candidate to reach the NBA Finals for the first time in team history, although it will have to shore up its defense (third-worst in the NBA, 100 points allowed per game) to become a serious contender.
ABOUT THE KINGS (6-12): Sacramento also needs to play better defensively – it allows a league-high 101.5 points per game. The problems do not stop there, though: The Kings are last in field goal percentage (.394), last in rebounds allowed per game (47.2) and second-to-last in 3-point shooting (.266). To make matters worse, guard Marcus Thornton, who leads the Kings in scoring at 16.4 points, left Saturday’s 128-95 loss at Memphis with a thigh injury and did not play Monday. He is questionable.
BUZZER BEATERS:
1. The Nuggets have a league-high six wins when their opponent scores 100 or more points, twice as many as runners-up Miami and Houston.
2. Denver is 21-5 in its last 26 road games against the spread.