SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) -- Although it's been a challenging first
two months of the season with a long stretch of road games, the
Denver Nuggets appeared pretty fresh Sunday against the
Sacramento Kings.



Reserve JaVale McGee scored 19 points, Danilo Gallinari had 18
and the Nuggets built a big lead in the first half to cruise
past the Kings 122-97.



It was a lopsided victory for the road-tested Nuggets, who have
opened the season with 18 of their first 25 games coming away
from home. Already ahead by 18 at the half, Denver outscored the
Kings 33-21 in the third quarter to take a 97-67 lead heading
into the fourth.



"It's the worst stretch of travel I've been associated with,"
said Nuggets coach George Karl, who is in his 26th season as a
head coach. "All we do is travel, play a game, and get in at 3
in the morning. Then we do it all over again."



Being on the road for their NBA-leading 18th road game didn't
seem to bother the Nuggets, who produced a season-high point
total. They shot 54 percent, had 27 assists, outrebounded the
Kings 52-42 and committed only 11 turnovers.



"I'm enjoying what we are going through," said Andre Iguodala,
who had 11 points, eight rebounds and eight assists. "We have a
tough schedule and it's a chance for us to build something.
We're trying to play at a high level and be mentally tough."



The Nuggets played well right from the start, scoring 16
straight points to snap a tie in the first quarter, and led by a
comfortable margin the rest of the way.



"The game was decided very early in this basketball game," Kings
coach Keith Smart said. "We knew this team would run and we had
to play real solid and not turn the basketball over. But that
happened a lot early and we allowed them to get out and run.
This is a bad loss for us."



Denver has won seven in a row against the Kings. Sacramento has
lost four in a row overall.



Sacramento's Aaron Brooks committed a hard foul against Andre
Miller late in the first quarter and a mild altercation ensued
involving DeMarcus Cousins of the Kings and Kenneth Faried of
the Nuggets. All four players were given technical fouls.



Reserve Jordan Hamilton had a season-high 15 points and Kosta
Koufos had 12 points for the Nuggets, who improved to 7-11 on
the road this season. Ty Lawson added 11 points and seven
assists. Denver's reserves had 64 points.



"Give credit to everyone that came off our bench," Koufos said.
"It was a good win for us. We started strong and finished the
game strong. We ran the floor very well. Everybody played well."



McGee made seven field goals, four of them on vicious dunks.
Denver had 14 dunks in the game.



"McGee and Andre have a great connection on getting lobs in the
game and easy baskets," Karl said. "He's (McGee) very active on
the offensive glass and we got our favorite shot, which is the
dunk and the layup. We also had a lot of easy baskets."



Isaiah Thomas had 20 points and Cousins had 19 points and 11
rebounds for the Kings. Jason Thompson added 16 points and 10
rebounds.



Starting Kings guard Tyreke Evans played the first 10 minutes
then left the game for good with a sore left knee. He missed
five of the previous eight games because of his injured knee.
Against the Nuggets, he missed all four shots and scored two
points.



"You want to have all your pieces you practice with. We know
Tyreke is going through some issues with his knees and we hope
to get him back," Kings guard Aaron Brooks said. "But we have to
play a little harder. Right now I think we are slow on
everything."



The Kings were without Marcus Thornton for a third straight
game. Their leading scorer off the bench, Thornton left the team
to be with his sick mother in Louisiana.



NOTES: The technical against Cousins was his seventh of the
season. He was suspended by the NBA for one game last week for
striking O.J. Mayo of Dallas in the groin. ... Smart was given a
technical early in the third quarter. ... Koufos shot an airball
on a free throw in the second quarter and was jeered by the
crowd. He missed his second attempt as well when the shot barely
hit the rim.