Nene picked up the slack for a rusty Carmelo Anthony with 16 points and 14 rebounds and Chauncey Billups scored 22 points as the Denver Nuggets took care of the visiting Sacramento Kings, 104-86, on Saturday.

J.R. Smith pitched in 17 points off the bench and Chris Anderson pulled down 11 rebounds for the Nuggets, who outrebounded the Kings, 58-35.

Anthony, who missed the last five games following the death of his sister, went 6-of-22 from the floor for 16 points while adding 10 boards. Eight of his points came in the final 4:26 as Denver pulled away.

Sacramento was within 38-35 midway through the second quarter when the Nuggets made their move, closing the first half on a 13-4 run to take a double-digit lead at the break.

The Kings crept back to within nine at 69-60 heading into the fourth quarter, but Denver opened the final quarter with a 13-2 burst to put it away. Smith nailed a pair of 3-pointers during the spurt and scored eight points in the fourth.

Jason Thompson finished with 17 points and seven rebounds and DeMarcus Cousins added 16 and eight for Sacramento.