Denver, CO (SportsNetwork.com) - Darren Collison scored 21 points with six assists to help the Sacramento Kings to a 110-105 win over the Denver Nuggets in the opener of a home-and-home set.
DeMarcus Cousins had 19 points and five rebounds while Rudy Gay and Carl Landry each gave 14 points for the Kings, who have won three straight after opening the season with a loss to Golden State.
"This is definitely a confidence booster going forward," Collison said.
The Kings went 40-of-47 from the foul line.
"We scored enough points to win, as ugly as we played offensively. We just couldn't overcome the 47 free throws," Nuggets coach Brian Shaw said.
JaVale McGee and Arron Afflalo each had 11 points for the Nuggets, who have dropped their past two.
These two clubs will meet in Sacramento on Wednesday.
The score was tied at 96-all when Ray McCallum put in a layup to give the Kings the lead.
Following a pair of three-point misses at the other end, Gay gave a layup while being fouled and put in the extra shot for a five-point lead.
After McGee hit a pair of free throws, Gay countered with a pair of his own before McGee hit a basket with just under 1 1/2 minutes to play.
Cousins made two free throws inside half a minute to again make it a five- point game, but Wilson Chandler was fouled going for a 3-pointer and made all three to make it a two-point game with 25.6 seconds to play.
After Gay countered with two more, Chandler went for a layup, but it didn't fall and Collison came down with the rebound before making 1-of-2.
McGee put home another basket to keep Denver in reach, but Collison made two more from the line and Afflalo missed a three at the other end to seal Denver's fate.
Denver scored the final six points of the first quarter to take a 22-19 lead after 12 minutes, but Sacramento used a couple of runs in the second quarter to grab a 51-46 lead at the halftime break.
A tightly played third quarter saw the lead go back and forth several times, but the Kings got six straight before Ty Lawson hit a bucket for Denver and Sacramento took a 79-77 lead into the final quarter.
Game Notes
Sacramento won two of three from Denver last season ... Sacramento shot 42 percent from the floor, compared to 38.7 percent by Denver ... There were 17 ties and 13 lead changes in the game.
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