DENVER - DeMarcus Cousins was back in Sacramento, but it didn't make a difference. The Denver Nuggets can't figure out how to beat the Kings this season.

Rudy Gay scored 25 points and grabbed nine rebounds, Ben McLemore had eight of his 14 in a decisive run in the fourth quarter, and the shorthanded Kings beat Denver 115-106 on Saturday night.

Seth Curry scored 17 off the bench and Darren Collison and Willie Cauley-Stein had 14 each for the Kings.

"It helps when guys who haven't been major responsible players have an opportunity to contribute in a major win," Sacramento coach George Karl said.

The Kings (31-46) played without Cousins and Rajon Rondo, who stayed in Sacramento. Denver was glad Cousins didn't travel after he averaged 38 points, 14.5 rebounds and three blocks in the first two games between the teams.

Even without two of their best players, the Kings rallied to sweep the season series from the Nuggets.

Gary Harris scored 19 points and Emmanuel Mudiay and Joffrey Lauvergne had 15 apiece for Denver (32-46).

"We just sucked tonight, bottom line," Mudiay said. "Offense, defense, it was a bad loss."

It was even tougher coming after coach Michael Malone praised his team for playing hard to the end of the season. The Nuggets had a winning record in March after four months with losing records, and Malone said he is preparing for every game like there is something to play for.

"We're trying to develop good habits," he said before Saturday's loss. "Next year, when we're into game 78 these games will be meaningful games as we're fighting for a playoff spot. It's important for the young nucleus that we have to fight through that fatigue and be mentally tough to get through it. Even though we're not playing for the playoffs we are playing for the playoffs, we are playing for the future, we are playing for the foundation."

That progress took a step back the last two games. Denver lost to a shorthanded New Orleans team Thursday before playing Sacramento, which was coming off a home loss to Miami on Friday.

"You look at the last two games, we played against a depleted Pelicans team, got our butts kicked," Will Barton said. "Tonight we played a depleted Sacramento team and got our butts kicked. It's a terrible effort. Just a bad effort."

The Kings used just eight players but only Collison played more than 36 minutes. Seven players logged at least 23 minutes and no one played less than 16.

"It helped that we played a lot of people," Gay said. "It took away the disadvantage of playing at altitude and it became a team win."

The Nuggets led most of Saturday until McLemore got hot in the fourth. He scored eight points during a 16-2 run that gave Sacramento a 105-97 lead midway through the last period.

The lead was 10 when Denver chipped away. Mudiay scored five straight and Lauvergne split a pair of free throws to make it 110-106 with 1:24 left. Kosta Koufos hit a floater as the shot clock expired to push the lead to six with a minute left.

Harris misfired on a 3-pointer and the Kings closed it out at the free-throw line.

"We didn't play defense from the beginning," Mudiay said. "We just had a lethargic effort. We can't have that. They did pretty much anything they wanted. Tonight was a bad loss. No way to soften that."

NOTES: Kings C DeMarcus Cousins and G Rajon Rondo (turf toe) did not travel to Denver for the game. Coach George Karl said he wanted to give younger players more court time. Cousins didn't play in Friday's loss to Miami because he was suspended for one game after picking up his 16th technical this season. ... Nuggets F Darrell Arthur did not play because of soreness in his knees. He missed two games in December because of left knee soreness. ... Kings F Omri Casspi (right hamstring) and G Marco Belinelli (sore right foot) did not play. ... Denver C Jusuf Nurkic was active after missing three games because of illness.