Sacramento Kings 51 – Denver Nuggets 48: NBA Half time Report
The Sacramento Kings lead the Denver Nuggets 51-48 at half time at Power Balance Pavilion. Sacramento forward-guard Francisco Garcia leads all scorers with 11 points.
This is the second time the Nuggets and Kings are playing each other within a week, and Sacramento will be looking to avoid their second straight loss to the Nuggets.
The Nuggets defeated the Kings 104-90 in their last match on Wednesday night at Pepsi Centre.
Denver coach George Karl said before the game that it would be a tough challenge for them to defeat the Kings back-to-back. He said, "Beating a team back-to-back in the NBA is a difficult challenge. I don't care what the records say. They beat us in Sacramento
and kind of embarrassed us a little bit on national TV, so they are not afraid of us."
First Quarter Recap
Both teams started the contest at a crisp pace but the Nuggets managed to make it to the free-throw line early in the first quarter and took a 14-11 lead in the sixth minute. However, the Kings then found their rhythm, and went on a 14-0 run to take a 24-14
advantage with a minute and a half to go in the quarter.
Sacramento held a 28-21 lead after 12 minutes, courtesy of an eight-point effort from Garcia.
Second Quarter Recap
The Nuggets came out strongly in the second quarter and pushed hard to cut the deficit to one point at 32-31, but forward Donte Greene came off the bench with a jump shot and alley oop dunk shot for to make it 36-34 with eight minutes to go.
Chris Andersen’s dunk shot in the next minute tied the game 36. Guard Tyreke Evans and centre DeMarcus Cousins broke the deadlock to put the Kings ahead by 39-36. A pair of free throws by forward-guard J.R. Smith once again tied the game at 39.
Sacramento eventually took a 48-44 lead when Evans hit a driving lay-up shot with the shot clock running out with a minute and a half left until the half time buzzer. Ty Lawson and Andersen answered with lay-up shots, tying the game at 48 with 58 seconds
remaining. Sacramento went on a 3-0 run in the last second to take a 51-48 lead into the locker room.
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