This is how smoothly things running for the Sacramento Kings right now: They're even picking up assists on the bench.
There's a lot to like about Omri Casspi fixing DeMarcus Cousins' slightly askew headband while they're seated on the bench. There's even more to like about a completely stone-faced Boogie reaching back for a no-look pound to show appreciation for his pal's good-looking-out. What Kings fans probably like most, though, is the score in the lower right-hand corner of the screen.
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Yep, that's a 21-point lead over the visiting Denver Nuggets just past the midpoint of the third quarter, just two nights after handling Brian Shaw's club on the road, on the second night of a back-to-back, in the famed visitor-destroying altitude of the Mile High City. The great news for Sacramentans is that it would get even more lopsided than that.
The Kings hammered Denver on Wednesday, earning a 131-109 win in which they led by as many as 36 points early in the fourth quarter. They hung 40 on the Nuggets in the opening quarter, shooting 70 percent from the floor behind the continued marauding of the Cousins-Rudy Gay frontcourt. After Denver responded with a strong second frame to cut the deficit to a more manageable 14 points at intermission, Sacramento resumed blowing the Nugs' doors off in the third, ripping off a pair of monster runs — a 12-2 jolt early in the period and a 14-1 game-ender near the finish of the frame — that turned the last 12 minutes into a mere formality.
At one point, noted bricklayer Reggie Evans even hit a jumper from the left elbow, sending the bench — most notably Casspi, who chipped in 11 points and six rebounds in 22 minutes off the pine — into hysterics:
All the while, Michael Malone's crew stuck with the philosophy that has the Kings off to their best five-game start in the last 13 years. They pounded the Nuggets on the interior, beat a steady march to the charity stripe, and stayed stout enough defensively (especially in the first and third quarters) to take the fight out of the scuffling Nuggets.
Sacramento shot 20-for-27 inside the restricted area behind the persistent bulldozing of Cousins, Gay and Carl Landry. Boogie, in particular, was breathtaking early, brutalizing Denver to the tune of 26 points and nine rebounds before halftime, and finished with 30 points and 11 rebounds in just 22 minutes before fouling out in the fourth quarter, becoming the first player since Moses Malone back in 1986 to go for 30 and 10 in 22 or fewer minutes.
Darren Collison kept things steady at the point (10 points, eight assists, a steal, a block, no turnovers in 31 minutes). Ben McLemore showed signs of offensive life at the two (10 points, 2 for 5 from 3-point land, to go with seven rebounds and three assists). The Kings held a 50-31 advantage in free-throw attempts on Wednesday, making it the fourth straight game in which they've taken at least 12 more freebies than their opponents; perhaps not coincidentally, they've won all four of them.
We've seen Cousins maul opposing bigs before. We've seen Gay beat up smaller wings before. But it's been a loooooong time since we've seen Sacramento, as a team, straight-up bully an opponent the way they've done to Denver these past two games. While that probably says something about where things stand with the 1-3 Nuggets, it's worth wondering just how much it says about a Kings team that now holds four wins over Western opponents, that saw its only loss come at the hands of a Golden State Warriors squad that's looking like the best team in basketball at the moment, and that is showing signs of a level of defensive friskiness that few (and certainly not this guy) anticipated heading into the season.
Malone, of course, would like to see those signs — Sacramento now ranks ninth in the NBA in points allowed per possession, third in opponent field-goal percentage and fourth in opponent 3-point percentage, per NBA.com's stat tool — applied more evenly and consistently, and his star big man's on the same page, according to Jason Jones of the Sacramento Bee:
“I’m happy we won,” Malone said. “I’m happy with all the good things we did, but I don’t want us creating poor habits. And to allow a team to score 37 points in the fourth quarter the way they did, as I told our team, is unacceptable … .
“We have to hold ourselves to a higher standard, and we have to defend for 48 minutes.”
For a Sacramento club that has often struggled even to string together consecutive stops over the past decade, though, clamping down in the first and third quarters — Denver shot just 13-for-41 (31.7 percent) in those two frames — is a really nice start, and an important piece of what's become a surprisingly strong opening to the season for Cousins' Kings.
"Us playing defense the way we are, communicating and playing together, is helping on the offensive end," Cousins said after the game, according to Michael Wagaman of The Associated Press. "Playing defense, I believe, helps build chemistry."
And for proof of the chemistry building in Sacramento, you need look no further than Boogie's headband, set right and looking crisp thanks to his buddy Omri.
Hat-tips to Andrew Montanye and NBA TV's Kristen Ledlow.
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Dan Devine is an editor for Ball Don't Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at devine@yahoo-inc.com or follow him on Twitter!
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