Kings and Nuggets deliver impressive 20 point comebacks

There were two remarkable comebacks in the National Basketball Association this past week. They were accomplished by the Sacramento Kings and Denver Nuggets.

The Kings were once down 78-58 to the Indiana Pacers on Tuesday with four minutes and 58 seconds left in the third quarter before outscoring the Pacers 56-31 en route to a 114-109 win. Meanwhile, the Nuggets were down 59-39 to the San Antonio Spurs on Thursday with four minutes and 29 seconds left in the third quarter before outscoring the Spurs 97-72 en route to a 136-131 win.

Sacramento won only their 16th game all season. Six Kings reached double digits in points. Point guard Devin Carter of West Palm Beach, Florida led Sacramento with 24 points off the bench. Center Maxime Raynaud of Paris, France had 18 points, point guard Russell Westbrook of Long Beach, California had 16 points, shooting guard Nique Clifford of Colorado Springs, Colorado had 12 points, power forward DeMar DeRozan had 12 points, and shooting guard Daeqwon Plowden of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania had 10 points. Raynaud had the double-double as he had 11 rebounds.

The Nuggets were led in their comeback by the dynamic duo of Canadian point guard Jamal Murray of Kitchener, Ontario and triple-double specialist Nikola Jokic of Sombor, Serbia.  Murray had 39 points, while Jokic had 31 points, 20 rebounds and 12 assists.

Four more Nuggets reached double digits in points. Small forward Spencer Jones of Shawnee Mission, Kansas had 19 points, small forward Cameron Johnson of Moon Township, Pennsylvania had 15 points, shooting guard Christian Braun of Burlington, Kansas had 11 points, and shooting guard Julian Strawther of Las Vegas, Nevada had 10 points.

This was the second huge comeback by the Nuggets this season. On December 5, they were down 71-48 to the Atlanta Hawks before winning 134-133. With the win, the Nuggets improved to a record of 41 wins and 26 losses. They are in fifth place in the Western Conference.