Nuggets at Suns
The Phoenix Suns look to defeat Denver for the third time this season
and the ninth time in the last 10 meetings when they host the Nuggets on
Wednesday. Phoenix sped out to a 32-point halftime while posting a
24-point home win Nov. 14 and also won in Denver six days later.
The Suns are hoping the sight of the Nuggets will shake them out of the doldrums that has seen them lose four of their last five games. "It's one of those things when you're losing, everyone gets down," Phoenix coach Jeff Hornacek told reporters. "Somehow you just have to battle your way through it." Denver has lost three consecutive games, including a demoralizing 111-107 home loss to the lowly Los Angeles Lakers on Tuesday. "Defensively, we weren't there at all," Nuggets guard Jameer Nelson said afterward in reference to his team allowing 60 second-half points. "They got pretty much whatever they wanted."
TV: 9 p.m. ET, Altitude (Denver), FSN Arizona (Phoenix)
ABOUT THE NUGGETS (11-17): Small forward Danilo Gallinari (ankle) missed the loss to the Lakers and Denver hopes to have its leading scorer (17.3) back for the opener of the three-game road trip. Backup small forward Will Barton was the beneficiary of Gallinari's absence with 25 points and eight rebounds in 38 minutes and he is averaging 28.5 points and nine rebounds in the past two games. The shorthanded Nuggets continue to be without starting point guard Emmanuel Mudiay (ankle), who is expected to miss his sixth straight game.
ABOUT THE SUNS (12-18): Phoenix was aiming to close in on the .500 mark but instead has spiraled in the wrong direction and has lost games by 25 points to Golden State and 21 to Utah during the recent rough patch. Hornacek had decided to shake things up prior to the loss to the Jazz by inserting second-year small forward T.J. Warren and rookie shooting guard Devin Booker into the starting lineup and moving point guard Brandon Knight and small forward P.J. Tucker to the bench. "When you're doing the same thing game-in and game-out and you're not winning, we all felt it was time for a little bit of a change," Hornacek said. "We thought with Devin and T.J. that with their young enthusiasm and emotion it might get us off to a decent start. We thought with Brandon and P.J. coming off the second group it would balance both of our teams — our bench team and our starters."
BUZZER BEATERS
1. The Suns have won 17 of their past 20 home games against the Nuggets.
2. Knight scored a career-best 38 points against the Nuggets in the win Nov. 20.
3. Denver C Nikola Jokic had 15 points and 10 rebounds against the Lakers for his third double-double of the campaign.