Kings, Nuggets meet in game with playoff implications

The Sacramento Kings were supposed to fall out of playoff contention when they dealt DeMarcus Cousins to New Orleans on Feb. 19. Despite a couple of stumbles the Kings are only two games out of the last playoff spot in the Western Conference.

Monday they have a chance to move a game closer to the team they have dominated the last two seasons.

Sacramento visits the Denver Nuggets, who currently hold the No. 8 seed in the Western Conference. The Kings are riding a five-game winning streak against Denver over the past two seasons.

The Nuggets (28-34) are in the midst of a stretch in which nine of 12 games are at home, but that stretch didn't get off to a good start thanks to a 10-point loss to Charlotte on Saturday night.

Instead of putting a little distance between themselves and the rest of the pack, the Nuggets fell back. They can make big strides by ending a three-game home losing streak to Sacramento (26-36) on Monday night.

"Every game is a winnable game," rookie guard Jamal Murray said after the 112-102 loss to the Hornets.

The Nuggets aren't as healthy as they were the last time they played the Kings, which was a 116-100 Denver loss in Sacramento on Feb. 23. Nuggets forward Kenneth Faried is doubtful with lower back soreness and will probably miss his fifth straight game. Coach Michael Malone said Faried was "in rough shape" and predicted he would miss a few more games.

The Kings are still working in the new players in the rotation, and their lineup has been fluid since the All-Star break. Willie Cauley-Stein came off the bench in a surprising home loss to Brooklyn on Wednesday but started against Utah on Sunday. He hit two free throws with 8.9 seconds left in overtime to give the Kings a 109-108 win and finished with 15 points.

Monday's game will provide a scenario Sacramento hasn't experienced in five weeks -- a game outside the state of California. Since wrapping up an eight-game road trip on Jan. 31, the Kings have played 13 straight games in the state, with the only two road games coming at the Los Angeles Lakers and Golden State Warriors.

Sacramento finished that stretch of games 6-7 after beating the Jazz on Sunday afternoon, but took just its third plane ride in more than a month. It comes while the team is still adjusting to the absence of Cousins and the additions of Buddy Hield and Tyreke Evans.

Evans, who doesn't play in back-to-back games because he is still working his way back from offseason knee surgery, sat out Sunday's game but Hield scored 10 in the win.

Still, meshing the new roster has been bumpy at times.

"There's a lot of players now that have a lot of freedom," guard Ty Lawson told The Sacramento Bee. "Nothing against DeMarcus, but he took most of the shots when he was here. And on the Pelicans, (Anthony Davis) took most of the shots. They had the ball in their hands. So now it's just a new experience. People have the ball in their hands and have that freedom. And we just have to have a balance between trying to score and trying to get someone else a shot.

"All of this is new. We're trying to learn each other, so we'll figure it out. It's early."

It's getting late for both teams to make a playoff push. The Kings and Nuggets play again Saturday in Sacramento and if either team sweeps the pair of games it could be problematic for the loser with less than 20 games left.

Denver holds the eighth spot so it controls its own destiny, but it can't afford another bad loss like the one against the Hornets.

"We didn't get the win against Charlotte but we'll have to bounce back," guard Gary Harris said.