Nuggets at Suns
The best team in the Western Conference squares off against the worst when the Denver Nuggets visit the lowly Phoenix Suns on Saturday. Denver protected its conference lead with a 102-99 win over San Antonio on Friday and has prevailed in 12 of its last 16 games.
Rising point guard Jamal Murray scored 31 points on Friday despite twisting his right ankle during the game and was pleased that the Nuggets recorded 29 assists on 39 made field goals. "We played team basketball, moving the ball around," Murray said in a postgame television interview. "Everybody's a threat, everybody's scoring, everybody's in the mix. The ball is going to move and I just got to find the open guy." Phoenix wilted in the fourth quarter of Friday's 118-102 loss to Oklahoma City in the opening contest of its seven-game homestand. "We can compete with any team," Suns guard Devin Booker told reporters. "When we're up, we have to win those games. That was a very winnable game for us. We just let it slip."
TV: 9 p.m. ET, Altitude2 (Denver), FS Arizona Plus (Phoenix)
ABOUT THE NUGGETS (22-11): Nikola Jokic tormented Phoenix in a 119-91 victory on Oct. 20 as he had an historic performance that put him in the company of legendary Wilt Chamberlain. Jokic scored 35 points on 11-of-11 shooting and added 12 rebounds and 11 assists to join Chamberlain as the only players in NBA history to record a triple-double on perfect shooting with at least 10 field-goal attempts. Jokic narrowly missed his third triple-double of the season on Friday as he had 21 points (on 10-of-14 shooting), nine rebounds and nine assists in the win over the Spurs.
ABOUT THE SUNS (9-27): Phoenix led by three points after three quarters on Friday but was outscored 37-18 in the fourth quarter as Oklahoma City made 15-of-19 field-goal attempts. Booker had another solid individual effort with 25 points and 10 assists and has tallied at least 25 points in seven straight games while averaging 29.9 points and 8.3 assists during the stretch. Small forward T.J. Warren recorded 19 points against the Thunder after topping 20 in seven of his previous eight games.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. The Nuggets have won each of their last four visits to Phoenix.
2. Suns F Kelly Oubre Jr. scored just four points on 2-of-8 shooting in his home debut and fifth overall game since being acquired from Washington
3. Denver reserve SG Malik Beasley (left ankle) is questionable after being injured while scoring 21 points on Friday.