SACRAMENTO -- For three quarters, the Kings allowed the Denver Nuggets to score at-will and it looked like they were going to fall back to .500 on the season. And then they flipped a switch.
From the moment the fourth quarter started, the Kings were the aggressor on bothends of the court.
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Led by a double-double from De’Aaron Fox and a strong finish from rookie Tyrese Haliburton, Sacramento put on a show on its home court to come away with a 125-115 win over the Nuggets.
Michael Porter Jr. put up 30 points for Michael Malone’s Denver squad and Nikola Jokic posted another triple-double, but it wasn’t enough.
Here are three takeaways as the Kings shock the Nuggets for a second time this season to improve to 3-1
Pro's Pro
NBA
Harrison Barnes always seems to sense what his team needs. In the first quarter, the ball movement went stagnant for Sacramento, until Barnes started finding the open man.
Passing can be contagious and that is exactly what happened for the Kings. The ball started jumping around and the shots started falling for Sacramento.
In his 616th career regular-season game, Barnes set a new career-high with eight assists. His previous high of seven came last season in the Kings’ 113-109 victory over the Minnesota Timberwolves. He added 13 points and six rebounds in the win on Tuesday night.
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The Rookie
Haliburton is trying to earn a permanent spot in our three takeaways. In just his fourth NBA contest, the 20-year-old continues to play like a 10-year vet.
The rookie guard’s numbers don’t stand out in a cursory look over the box score, but his impact on the game goes well beyond the box score.
Haliburton finished the night with 13 points on 5-of-7 shooting to go with three rebounds, six assists and three steals. He pushed the tempo, played defense and helped his team win a third game in four tries.
Two bigs
Marvin Bagley had a breakout game for Sacramento, scoring 18 points in 23 minutes of action but he wasn’t the only big man to have a quality night.
Richaun Holmes has hit the glass hard in his first three games, but struggled to put points on the board. That wasn’t the case against Denver.
Holmes attacked the rim on the pick-and-roll, scoring a season-best 20 points on 10-of-13 shooting. He only managed to grab five rebounds, but with both teams shooting the lights out, there weren’t a lot of opportunities.