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Sports
Malik Monk’s bounceback performance helps Kings complete comeback win over Denver Nuggets
Malik Monk wasn’t having a great stretch.
In five games before Wednesday’s win over the Denver Nuggets, he was shooting 33% from the floor and 15% from 3-point range while averaging just 9.5 points. That came after he averaged 14.7 points on 34.6% shooting from long distance to establish himself as a Sixth Man of the Year candidate for the upstart Kings over the first 28 games.
Monk’s offensive struggles played a role in the team’s recent downturn, which included losses to the lowly Charlotte Hornets and Washington Wizards on Sacramento’s home court last week. After scoring just eight points in Tuesday’s loss to Denver, Monk took to social media to voice frustration with his play.
Monk Tweeted: “I gotta be better!!!! my bad Sactown!”
Then came a bounceback performance that proved critical in Sacramento’s 127-126 victory Wednesday after the Kings went 1-3 to start a crucial six-game homestand. Monk scored a team-high 33 points while making 4 of 8 eight 3-point attempts. He also nailed the go-ahead free throw with 0.7 seconds on the clock to give the Kings a badly needed victory over the team with the best record in the Western Conference.
“I just take full responsibility because it just made me lock in a little more mentally,” Monk said afterwards. “And I was playing bad. So I just let everybody know I was going to shake that.”
Monk’s 33 points marked a season high, and his team needed it in a big way. De’Aaron Fox (31 points) and Domantas Sabonis (31 points) were the only other Kings in double figures while the Kings came back from a 19-point deficit to pull off the surprising win. It took outscoring the Nuggets 33-21 in the fourth quarter to escape while the sellout crowd had Golden 1 Center shaking. Sabonis added 10 rebounds and five assists in his first game back since suffering an avulsion fracture to the right thumb on his non-shooting hand.
Having three 30-point scorers has happened just six times in the last decade, according to the Kings’ communications department, with only three coming in regulation. It’s the first time the Kings have had a trio of 30-point scorers since Otis Birdsong, Phil Ford, and Scott Wedman on Jan. 26, 1979, when the Kansas City Kings beat the Washington Bullets 142-128.
Had Sacramento lost, it would have continued an uninspiring trend of lackluster defense leading to disappointing results. Particularly after the Kings blew a 20-point first-half lead against Denver 24 hours earlier.
The game was tied with 2.8 seconds left during a heated, back-and-forth sequence in the fourth quarter. The Kings took the ball out and Monk got it and drove baseline, trying to score the game-winning bucket. He was fouled by Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and hit the floor. That sent Monk to the line with the chance to take the lead with less than a second remaining.
Monk, who was 4 of 4 at the stripe at that point, added a little bit of drama by missing the first one long. When asked about it after the game, he smiled.
“I was talking to my old teammate, De’Andre Jordan, the whole time. That free throw felt the best of all night, man, so I thought it was good,” he said. “Then I just had to lock into the second one. I don’t miss two in a row.”
Indeed, Monk is in the midst of a career year from the free-throw line. He’s made 82 of 90, good for 91.7%. His previous best of 88.2% came during his second season in 2018-19.
Kings associate head coach Jordi Fernandez, filling in for Mike Brown for a second straight night, pointed out that he didn’t think Monk played as poorly as his numbers indicated Tuesday. Monk shot 3 of 10 from the floor while missing all five of his 3s, but Fernandez indicated he was happy with Monk’s shot selection given how badly the team needs him to be aggressive.
“He went to bed and he was not happy with himself,” Fernandez said. “He showed up today and he had that in the back of his mind that he had to be better and he brought it. So I’m very, very happy for him.”
Things were easy for the Nuggets for most of the game offensively. The Kings offered little resistance on defense in the first half, allowing Denver to shoot 64% and hit the break leading 75-62. Fernandez asked his team to increase the defensive pressure after halftime and the Nuggets managed only 52 points in the third and fourth quarters, shooting just 39% in the fourth.
It was perhaps the best defensive quarter the Kings have had during their homestand. Backup point guard Davion Mitchell was awarded his first Defensive Player of the Game nod, earning the right to wear the giant necklace during the postgame celebration for the first time.
Mitchell bothered Nuggets ball handlers, particularly Bones Hyland, who was running the point in place of Jamal Murray, by picking him up fullcourt. Mitchell also helped in pick-and-roll coverage to try to slow MVP candidate Nikola Jokic , who finished with 40 points, seven rebounds and six assists, but missed the final shot after Monk’s free throw to seal the win.
For Mitchell, the Kings best defensive player, he expects to have more postgame celebrations like Wednesday’s.
“It’s my first time (getting the chain),” Mitchell said. “It’s definitely not gonna be my last.”
The Kings wrap up their homestand Friday, when they host the Utah Jazz. The win over Denver moved them up from the No. 7 to No. 6 in the Western Conference at 18-15.
This story was originally published December 29, 2022 4:01 AM.
