Nuggets look to extinguish Suns on tail end of back-to-back

Back on November 14th and 20th, the Suns absolutely destroyed the Nuggets no matter where they played — home or away. This time the Nuggets will look for revenge after suffering yet another tough loss, this time to the hands of the now 5-23 Los Angeles Lakers, despite being up by 21-points late in the first half.

Regular Season Game 29 (11-17)
Nuggets	@	Suns
7 p.m. MT	on	Altitude, 104.3FM

What went wrong?

Three-point shooting: Suns shot 11-24 from beyond the arc versus the Nuggets’ 6-35 in their first matchup and won the second one just as handily shooting 15-27 compared to Denver’s 5-24. The Nuggets continually allowed Phoenix to get good looks while concurrently getting goaded into trying to fight fire with fire — attempting to beat a jump-shooting team with jumpers. Easy way to get burned by the Suns.

“Our inability to guard the three point line is a joke,” Malone told BSNDenver. “We’re one of the worst teams in the NBA in guarding the three point line. Every night we give up just a ridiculous amount of threes.”

Two-headed monster: The first game Brandon Knight tore the Nuggets apart with his shooting on his way to a career-high 38 points on 11-20 shooting (6-10 from three). The second game the Nuggets managed to slow Knight down but were decimated by Eric Bledsoe and his 30-point, 7 boards, 4 assists performance. With the Nuggets’ serious lack of perimeter defense, having only Gary Harris will not help Denver as they are forced to choose their poison against a star duo of guards. This is the dream George Karl had when he would play Ty Lawson and Raymond Felton together.

Denver Nuggets

Injury report: Jusuf Nurkic – out (rehabbing from patella tendon surgery in his left knee), Wilson Chandler – out (right hip surgery), Emmanuel Mudiay – out (right ankle sprain), Danilo Gallinari – out (left ankle sprain), Harris – probable (right knee hyperextention), Nelson – probable (illness).

Nelson continues to fill in admirably, probably even more effectively even, for Mudiay as the rookie misses his sixth straight game tonight. The problem, however, comes when Nelson is not on the court and is replaced with the rage-inducing Randy Foye. Foye’s been shooting better as of late, but is nowhere near the true point guard the team needs to run their offense. Fortunately, the Nuggets coaching staff sees this, as Malone noted that the Nuggets lost any “semblance” of offensive flow once Jameer checked out of last game due to illness in the third quarter.

Harris has been getting better and better as the season progresses, blooming into a legitimate two-way player. His shot looks confident, his cuts are timely and most important of all — he’s been making his assignment work his ass off to score. Harris will have his work cut out for him as he’ll be assigned to whoever gives the Nuggets the most trouble between Knight and Bledsoe.

Kostas filled in well for Gallinari, scoring nine points on 3-5 shooting, but most of the minutes will be occupied by Nuggets revelation Will Barton. Barton has been on an absolute tear to say the least, averaging career-highs across the board. No, I’m not exaggerating. Literally every single stat besides turnovers is up. Look for Will the Thrill to continue his onslaught and keep making his case for the NBA Sixth Man of the Year award.

Phoenix Suns

Injury report: The Suns and their magical medical staff have reported no injuries.

While Denver is playing their second game of a back-to-back, Phoenix will have been resting since Monday and will be hungry after suffering a bad blowout loss to the Utah Jazz.

Bledsoe struggled in the game shooting 2-10 from the field for just 8 points. Still, the dynamic guard is a bowling ball of muscle and will cause the Nuggets problems even just trying to contain him.

Knight came off the bench last game, so rookie Devin Booker could get some playing time, but will most likely be back in the starting lineup as he piled up a team-high 26 points on 8-17 shooting. The Nuggets absolutely must keep Knight contained and will have to resist their habit of cheating off spot-up shooters.

T.J. Warren is a young swingman who can score in bunches, and he was recently promoted to the starting lineup in place of P.J. Tucker. This is a move that sacrifices defense for offense and will have the Suns coming out with even more firepower than usual. Don’t underestimate Warren as he can catch fire in an instant.

Tipoff comes later tonight in Phoenix.