DENVER – DeMarcus Cousins scored 31 points, Darren Collison had 26 points and seven assists, and the Sacramento Kings beat the Denver Nuggets 120-113 on Tuesday night.
Sacramento led most of the way to stop a two-game skid and win for the fifth time in seven games.
The Kings used a 15-0 run in the second quarter to take a 50-36 lead. Denver went nearly seven minutes without a field goal and missed 10 shots before Jusuf Nurkic hit a layup with 2:46 left before halftime.
Denver got within three in the fourth quarter and had chances to trim it to one or tie, but Sacramento kept extending the lead with Cousins on the bench.
The lead was five when he returned, and he helped the Kings push it to 11 with 2:22 left with assists on a 3-pointer by Arron Afflalo and a layup by Garrett Temple.
Danilo Gallinari led Denver with 24 points and Nikola Jokic had 18. He and fellow big man Nurkic, who scored 16 off the bench, had trouble containing Cousins all night.
Kings: G Ty Lawson didn’t face his old team due to a sinus fracture sustained in Saturday’s loss to Memphis. He was close to playing but was held out after experiencing blurred vision in warmups. ... F Rudy Gay missed his third consecutive game with a right hip flexor strain.
Nuggets: F Kenneth Faried missed his second consecutive game with a back injury. Denver coach Michael Malone said Faried was getting constant treatment for the injury, which flared up after Friday’s loss to Philadelphia.
Cousins has been criticized for his emotional outbursts, but Malone is a big fan of the All-Star center, calling him one of the best in the NBA at his position.
“He’s at the top. You tell me something he can’t do,” Malone said. “I don’t say that just because I coached him for a year and a half and I have a relationship with him. His talent is immense. He’s an emotional player, he’s passionate and he’s a competitor.
“We’ve all seen times when he’s kind of lost his emotions and that’s never good for him or his team. When I coached him, teams would make a concerted effort to start the game to get under his skin. Portland did that and he went for 55 against them, so you have to be careful what you wish for.”
Kings: Host the Miami Heat on Wednesday night.
Nuggets: Host the San Antonio Spurs on Thursday night.
