Suns at Nuggets
Star center Nikola Jokic looks to continue his stellar play when the Denver Nuggets host the Phoenix Suns on Friday. Jokic has recorded double-doubles in 16 of the past 22 games and is the prime reason why the Nuggets possess the fifth-best record in the NBA.
Jokic scored 28 points and matched his career high of 21 rebounds in Wednesday's 114-108 road loss against the Utah Jazz in a result that greatly disappointed Denver coach Michael Malone. "We just were not mentally prepared, some of us," Malone told reporters afterward. "Some of us were not mentally ready to play this game. Some of us were not in tune to what we were trying to do defensively, and we had breakdown after breakdown after breakdown." Phoenix has lost its last six games and fell by double digits for the fourth time during the stretch when it succumbed 120-106 to the visiting Portland Trail Blazers on Thursday. Suns rookie center Deandre Ayton is slated to miss his third straight game because of a sprained left ankle.
TV: 9 p.m. ET, FS Arizona (Phoenix), Altitude (Denver)
ABOUT THE SUNS (11-39): Small forward T.J. Warren (ankle) sat out Thursday's game and will miss at least 2-to-3 weeks after being injured during Tuesday's contest against the Timberwolves. "We're going to really shut him down," Phoenix coach Igor Kokoskov told reporters prior to Thursday's game. "That bone bruise is going to require some time off. He won't do any basketball activities." Warren is averaging 18 points and shooting 48.6 percent from the field as the club's second-best offensive player behind star shooting guard Devin Booker.
ABOUT THE NUGGETS (31-15): Denver's loss to the Jazz included a shoving match between center Mason Plumlee and Utah's Derrick Favors and it is possible that up to three Nuggets - Jokic and guards Gary Harris and Jamal Murray - could be in jeopardy of receiving automatic one-game suspensions for leaving the bench area. Denver coach Michael Malone insisted the trio didn't violate the rule and Jokic was initially caught off guard by reporters quizzing him about the subject. "I was not on the court," Jokic told reporters of the incident in which Plumlee and Favors were both ejected. "I mean, I cannot step? I was not even close. If they're going to fine me, they're going to fine me, but I did not do nothing."
BUZZER BEATERS
1. The Nuggets have won two of this season's previous three meetings.
2. Phoenix SF Kelly Oubre Jr. scored 18 points against Portland for his ninth straight double-digit effort.
3. Denver swingman Will Barton, who missed more than 2 1/2 months with a hip injury, had his best game of the season against Utah with 22 points and nine rebounds.