Denver Nuggets – Sacramento Kings · NBA

Win probability changed during the game. · 16 December 2024

DEN130–129SAC

Is it worth watching?

Highly recommended

It was more exciting than 80% of NBA games since 2017

· It was still open in the final minutes

It measures how much the win probability moved during the game —without looking at who won or at the score— and compares it with the 10,950 NBA games with a curve since 2017. “Highly recommended” is the most intense 20%, “recommended” runs from 50% to 80%, and “skippable” is the rest. Source: ESPN.

↑ SAC winsDEN wins ↓

Home team's win probability across the game (source: ESPN). The band rises when SAC leads and falls when DEN does.

This is how the game was decided.

Jamal Murray decided it, the Denver Nuggets player with the most points (28, with 2 rebounds and 6 assists; +10 with him on the floor). The criterion: the winner's points in the box score; plus-minus says who was on the floor when the game opened up.

The game-winner in Sacramento Kings 129-130 Denver Nuggets (December 16, 2024) was hit by Jamal Murray: a jump shot with 8.1 s left in the fourth quarter, putting the Denver Nuggets up 130-129. They never trailed again.

The biggest run of Sacramento Kings 129-130 Denver Nuggets (December 16, 2024) was a 13-0 run by the Denver Nuggets in the first quarter (from 8:41 to 6:01), from 11-6 to 24-6. The Sacramento Kings' best was a 9-0 run in the third quarter (from 8:54 to 7:10), from 76-80 to 85-80.

▸See where these figures come from

Play: Jamal Murray makes 17-foot pullup jump shot (Nikola Jokic assists).

I count as the game-winner the basket that puts the winning team ahead for good. Source: the official NBA play-by-play (since 2002-03) and each team's official box scores.

A run here is consecutive points by one team without the opponent scoring. Source: the official NBA play-by-play (since 2002-03) and each team's official box scores.

Source: the game's official box score and play-by-play.

Jamal Murray decided this game: his points put his team ahead with 8.1 seconds left in the fourth quarter, and the opponent never led again.

It is one of the 7 games he has decided this way in the NBA since the 2002-03 season.

His profile shows the games Murray decided

▸See where these figures come from

A game is decided by the last basket that puts a team ahead in the final ten seconds of the fourth quarter or of an overtime, if that team wins.

16 December 2024 · The source is the ESPN play-by-play, play espn:401736819:740; the date is the one on the NBA box score.

Rotations · who was on the floor

Closing lineup · DEN

Jokic · Murray · Westbrook · Gordon · Watson

Closing lineup · SAC

Sabonis · Fox · DeRozan · Monk · McDermott

Q1Q2Q3Q4

DEN

Nikola Jokic

38′ · +4

Jamal Murray

38′ · +10

Russell Westbrook

35′ · +3

Michael Porter Jr.

31′ · +8

Aaron Gordon

31′ · +6

Julian Strawther

23′ · -11

Peyton Watson

17′ · -5

Hunter Tyson

17′ · -7

DeAndre Jordan

10′ · -3

SAC

Domantas Sabonis

41′ · +1

De'Aaron Fox

39′ · -13

DeMar DeRozan

34′ · 0

Malik Monk

34′ · -6

Doug McDermott

27′ · +6

Jae Crowder

5′ · -7

Keon Ellis

33′ · +9

Colby Jones

18′ · +6

Isaac Jones

6′ · -2

Alex Len

2′ · +1

Each bar is a stint on the floor (source: NBA). The number is minutes played and the team's +/− with him on the court. DEN and SAC.

These lineups played the most minutes together.

Denver Nuggets

Murray, Porter, Westbrook, Gordon, and Jokic played 24.3 minutes together.
Their team won that stretch by 12 points.
Murray, Strawther, Watson, Tyson, and Jordan played 9.4 minutes together.
Their team lost that stretch by 3 points.
Porter, Strawther, Westbrook, Gordon, and Jokic played 4.6 minutes together.
Their team lost that stretch by 4 points.

Sacramento Kings

Sabonis, Fox, Monk, DeRozan, and McDermott played 11.9 minutes together.
Their team lost that stretch by 4 points.
Sabonis, Fox, Monk, Ellis, and DeRozan played 7.9 minutes together.
Their team lost that stretch by 5 points.
Sabonis, Monk, Ellis, Jones, and DeRozan played 4.5 minutes together.
Their team won that stretch by 9 points.

▸See every lineup of the game

Denver Nuggets

Murray, Strawther, Watson, Tyson, and Jokic played 3.1 minutes together.
Their team lost that stretch by 1 point.
Strawther, Watson, Tyson, Westbrook, and Jokic played 2.7 minutes together.
Their team lost that stretch by 1 point.
Porter, Strawther, Watson, Westbrook, and Jokic played 1.6 minutes together.
Their team tied that stretch.

Sacramento Kings

Sabonis, Fox, Ellis, Jones, and McDermott played 3.5 minutes together.
Their team lost that stretch by 2 points.
Fox, Ellis, Jones, Jones, and McDermott played 3.1 minutes together.
Their team tied that stretch.
Sabonis, Fox, Ellis, DeRozan, and McDermott played 2.7 minutes together.
Their team won that stretch by 5 points.
Sabonis, Fox, Monk, DeRozan, and Crowder played 2.6 minutes together.
Their team lost that stretch by 3 points.
Sabonis, Monk, Ellis, DeRozan, and McDermott played 2.6 minutes together.
Their team won that stretch by 7 points.
Fox, Ellis, Jones, Len, and McDermott played 2.2 minutes together.
Their team won that stretch by 1 point.
Sabonis, Fox, Ellis, Jones, and Jones played 2.0 minutes together.
Their team won that stretch by 1 point.
Sabonis, Monk, Ellis, Jones, and Crowder played 1.9 minutes together.
Their team tied that stretch.

▸See where these figures come from

The lineups come from the NBA's official rotation: who was on the floor and when. Each lineup's plus-minus is worked out from every player's stints and is only shown when they all add up with each other and with the final score.

Domantas Sabonis covered 5.10 km, more than anyone in the game.

Nikola Jokić touched the ball 118 times, a game high.
Nikola Jokić made 90 passes, a game high.
Domantas Sabonis defended 12 shots at the rim, a game high, and opponents made 9.
Domantas Sabonis had 25 rebound chances, a game high.

▸See what was measured for each player

Denver Nuggets

Player	km	km/h	Touches	Passes
Jamal Murray	4.99	7.3	83	49
Nikola Jokić	4.25	6.1	118	90
Russell Westbrook	4.22	6.7	85	66
Michael Porter Jr.	3.78	6.8	36	23
Aaron Gordon	3.78	6.8	36	18
Julian Strawther	3.15	7.4	33	18
Peyton Watson	2.28	7.3	33	24
Hunter Tyson	2.27	7.3	14	9
DeAndre Jordan	1.06	6.0	17	14

Sacramento Kings

Player	km	km/h	Touches	Passes
Domantas Sabonis	5.10	6.8	98	75
De'Aaron Fox	5.02	7.2	91	60
Keon Ellis	4.39	7.4	32	22
Malik Monk	4.34	7.0	87	62
DeMar DeRozan	4.10	6.6	46

The figures come from the NBA's optical tracking (NBA.com) for this game; speed is each player's average while on the floor.

Who stood out on defense during the season

These figures cover the whole 2024-25 regular season, not this game.

Denver Nuggets

Nikola Jokić deflected 3.8 passes per game over his 70 games.
He ranks 4 of 388 in the league.
Russell Westbrook deflected 2.5 passes per game over his 75 games.
He ranks 46 of 388 in the league.
Jamal Murray recovered 0.7 loose balls per game over his 67 games.
He ranks 49 of 388 in the league.

Sacramento Kings

Keon Ellis deflected 3.6 passes per game over his 78 games.
He ranks 5 of 388 in the league.
De'Aaron Fox deflected 3.1 passes per game over his 62 games.
He ranks 17 of 388 in the league.
Domantas Sabonis contested 7.3 shots per game over his 70 games.
He ranks 32 of 388 in the league.

Hustle figures come from the hustle stats the NBA publishes (NBA.com) and rim defense comes from its tracking; both cover the regular season. For each player in this game we show the figure that ranks him highest in the league, and for each team, the three best ranked. Ranks count players with at least 30 games and, at the rim, at least 4 defended shots per game.

The Sacramento Kings have won 75 of their 159 games against the Denver Nuggets.

75-84record of the Sacramento Kings · NBA 1985-86 – 2025-26, regular season and playoffs

1-3in 2025-26

See the full head-to-head in the Analyst

See where it comes from

Official NBA box scores, regular season and playoffs, 1985-86 – 2025-26. It counts every game between the two teams that the house holds, this one included.

SportiveWorld knows much more about this game

Game context

Attendance

16.936

96.2% of capacity

Golden 1 Center · Sacramento

Scoring

259

combined points

31.3 above the season average (227.7)

⚖️ The last two minutes

Official NBA L2M report: every call in the endgame, reviewed by the league.

7 calls reviewed0 no admitted errors