Sacramento’s Artest debuts at home vs. Nuggets

Denver has lost 18 straight at Sacramento. The last time the Nuggets won in Sacramento was on January 7, 1997.

Sacramento, which enters tonight’s contest on a two-game losing streak, returns home after going 1-5 on a six game road trip. On Sunday, Jalen Rose knocked down a jump shot with four-tenths of a second left in overtime to give the Toronto Raptors a 124-123 win over the Kings at Air Canada Centre.

Mike Bibby fell two points short of a career-high with 42 points and the recently acquired Artest, who became a King when the Indiana Pacers dealt him to Sacramento for Peja Stojakovic, netted 24 and pulled down nine boards in the loss to Toronto for the Kings.

The Kings are 12-11 as the host this season. They have won three in a row at ARCO Arena.

The Nuggets have also lost two straight contests and play the middle game of a three-game road trip. On Saturday, Cuttino Mobley led six Clippers in double figures with 19 points in a 112-79 rout of Denver at the Staples Center.

Carmelo Anthony had 16 points in the loss to the Clippers for Denver, which has dropped back-to-back contests following a seven-game victory surge. Kenyon Martin added 13 points and Andre Miller scored 10 for Denver, which struggled by shooting 39.5 percent from the floor, including 5-of-17 from three-point range.

Denver, which will visit the Utah Jazz on Wednesday at the Delta Center, is 10-12 as the visitor this season. The Nuggets are 6-4 in their last 10 games on the road.

This is the third of four meetings between the clubs this season. In the two previous contests, both teams picked up a victory on its homecourt. Sacramento has won three of the last five contests in this series.

Denver is scheduled to host the Kings on April 15th at the Pepsi Center.