Slam Dunk Central

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The Denver Nuggets, for all intents and purposes and with so few games left in the season, need to win out if they expect to participate in the Western Conference playoffs; the visiting Sacramento Kings had other plans.? A trio of Kings - Kevin Martin, Fernando Garcia and Mikki Moore - came up big, combining for 88 points as Sacramento held off Denver, 118-115 Saturday at Pepsi Center.? The Nuggets’ loss put a damper on their?postseason aspirations as they fall into a tie with the Golden State Warriors; the Kings did this despite the loss of Ron Artest and Brad Miller.

The Nuggets played without Kenyon Martin who was serving a one-game suspension for collecting 6 flagrant fouls this season; in his place was Linas Kleiza; Kleiza scored 21 points in the first 18 minutes, helping Denver take a 41-32 lead.? The lead for the Nuggets appeared safe, except for the Kings’ Martin as he scored 17 first-half points, allowing Sacramento to take a 59-56 lead into halftime.? Fast-forwarding to the late stages of the fourth quarter, with 4.3 seconds left on the clock, Denver’s J.R. Smith attempted a 3-pointer after a pass from Marcus Camby, but the shot hit the back of the rim and bounced away, giving the Kings the win.

Sacramento’s leadiong scorer was Martin with 36 points, including three treys, 4 rebounds, 2 assists, 3 steals but 6 turnovers while Garcia, from off the bench, scored 29 with 6 rebounds, 6 assists, a steal but 5 turnovers; Moore added 23 with 10 rebounds, an assist and a block.? Denver was led by Carmelo Anthony with 47 points, including 3three-pointers, 11 rebounds, 2 assists and 3 steals while Kleiza scored 28 with 4 rebounds, 3 assists and a block; Camby scored only 4 points, but grabbed 14 rebounds, 11 assists and blocked 2 shots.? Sacramento (36-40) returns home to host the Los Angeles Lakers Sunday while Denver (46-30) hopes to recover as they travel to Seattle to face the SuperSonics - also on Sunday.

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