**ESPN:** [recap](https://www.espn.com/nba/recap/_/gameId/401584907) – [boxscore](https://www.espn.com/nba/boxscore/_/gameId/401584907) – [gamecast](https://www.espn.com/nba/game/_/gameId/401584907) | **NBA.com:** [boxscore](https://www.nba.com/game/0022300279) – [shotchart](https://www.nba.com/game/0022300279/game-charts)
||**Q1**|**Q2**|**Q3**|**Q4**|**Final**||
|:—|:–:|:–:|:–:|:–:|:–:|:–:|
**DEN**|**41**|**29**|**24**|**25**|**119**|[](/DEN)|
**PHX**|**30**|**33**|**28**|**20**|**111**|[](/PHX)|
**Team**|**FG**|**3PT**|**FT**|**OR**|**Reb**|**Ast**|**TO**|**Stl**|**Blk**|**PF**|**Pts**|
|:—|—:|—:|—:|—:|—:|—:|—:|—:|—:|—:|—:|
[](/DEN)**DEN**|**50-88 (56.8)**|**12-32 (37.5)**|**7-12 (58.3)**|**4**|**32**|**38**|**9**|**8**|**4**|**21**|**119**|
[](/PHX)**PHX**|**39-84 (46.4)**|**9-27 (33.3)**|**24-26 (92.3)**|**8**|**43**|**22**|**12**|**4**|**8**|**17**|**111**|
**[](/DEN)DEN**|**Min**|**FG**|**3PT**|**FT**|**OR**|**Reb**|**Ast**|**TO**|**Stl**|**Blk**|**PF**|**Pts**|**+/-**|
|:—|—:|—:|—:|—:|—:|—:|—:|—:|—:|—:|—:|—:|—:|
J. Holiday^^SF|25:29|6-8 (75.0)|3-5 (60.0)|0-0 (0.0)|1|2|5|0|1|0|2|15|+8|
M. Porter Jr.^^PF|36:31|8-16 (50.0)|0-4 (0.0)|3-3 (100.0)|1|10|4|2|2|1|1|19|+8|
N. Jokic^^C|34:55|9-18 (50.0)|0-3 (0.0)|3-6 (50.0)|1|5|16|3|1|2|4|21|+6|
K. Caldwell-Pope^^SG|34:37|6-10 (60.0)|3-6 (50.0)|0-0 (0.0)|0|1|5|0|3|0|2|15|+6|
R. Jackson^^PG|29:25|8-11 (72.7)|3-4 (75.0)|1-2 (50.0)|0|2|4|1|0|0|3|20|0|
C. Braun|22:22|4-6 (66.7)|0-0 (0.0)|0-0 (0.0)|1|4|4|1|1|0|0|8|+5|
P. Watson|25:29|4-9 (44.4)|0-2 (0.0)|0-0 (0.0)|0|3|0|0|0|0|5|8|+5|
J. Strawther|18:07|4-9 (44.4)|3-8 (37.5)|0-0 (0.0)|0|3|0|0|0|1|2|11|0|
D. Jordan|13:05|1-1 (100.0)|0-0 (0.0)|0-1 (0.0)|0|2|0|2|0|0|2|2|+2|
**Totals**||**50-88 (56.8)**|**12-32 (37.5)**|**7-12 (58.3)**|**4**|**32**|**38**|**9**|**8**|**4**|**21**|**119**||
**DNP:** ***Collin Gillespie***, ***Braxton Key***, ***Zeke Nnaji***
**Inactive:** ***Vlatko Cancar***, ***Aaron Gordon***, ***Jay Huff***, ***Jamal Murray***, ***Jalen Pickett***, ***Hunter Tyson***
**[](/PHX)PHX**|**Min**|**FG**|**3PT**|**FT**|**OR**|**Reb**|**Ast**|**TO**|**Stl**|**Blk**|**PF**|**Pts**|**+/-**|
|:—|—:|—:|—:|—:|—:|—:|—:|—:|—:|—:|—:|—:|—:|
K. Durant^^SF|36:11|8-25 (32.0)|1-3 (33.3)|13-13 (100.0)|0|4|11|1|1|3|2|30|-6|
K. Bates-Diop^^PF|16:55|0-1 (0.0)|0-0 (0.0)|4-4 (100.0)|0|1|1|0|0|0|0|4|-10|
J. Nurkic^^C|32:57|13-22 (59.1)|2-6 (33.3)|3-5 (60.0)|3|6|2|6|0|1|6|31|+3|
E. Gordon^^SG|33:17|6-11 (54.5)|4-7 (57.1)|0-0 (0.0)|1|4|3|3|1|1|1|16|-6|
G. Allen^^PG|37:00|5-9 (55.6)|1-4 (25.0)|2-2 (100.0)|0|9|3|0|1|0|2|13|-4|
J. Goodwin|20:06|1-3 (33.3)|0-1 (0.0)|0-0 (0.0)|2|6|0|0|0|0|1|2|-5|
N. Little|18:40|1-1 (100.0)|0-0 (0.0)|0-0 (0.0)|0|2|0|0|0|0|0|2|-6|
J. Okogie|25:43|5-9 (55.6)|1-5 (20.0)|2-2 (100.0)|2|4|0|2|1|3|3|13|+4|
D. Eubanks|14:42|0-1 (0.0)|0-0 (0.0)|0-0 (0.0)|0|6|1|0|0|0|2|0|-9|
C. Metu|4:29|0-2 (0.0)|0-1 (0.0)|0-0 (0.0)|0|1|1|0|0|0|0|0|-1|
**Totals**||**39-84 (46.4)**|**9-27 (33.3)**|**24-26 (92.3)**|**8**|**43**|**22**|**12**|**4**|**8**|**17**|**111**||
**DNP:** ***Udoka Azubuike***, ***Bol Bol***, ***Saben Lee***, ***Yuta Watanabe***
**Inactive:** ***Bradley Beal***, ***Devin Booker***, ***Damion Lee***
||**PITP**|**2^^nd PTS**|**FB PTS**|**BIG LD**|**BEN PTS**|**TOT TOV**|**TOV PTS**||
|:—|:–:|:–:|:–:|:–:|:–:|:–:|:–:|:–:|
**DEN**|56|8|10|17|29|9|10|[](/DEN)|
**PHX**|56|10|12|3|17|12|11|[](/PHX)|
**Lead Changes: 8** | **Times Tied: 8** | **Gametime: 2:22** | **Attendance: 17071**
*Officials: Marc Davis, Karl Lane, Dedric Taylor*
by BigHoneyBot
40 Comments
Here’s the thing about the flagrant: the NBA has been pretty consistent about calling elbows up high like that a flagrant, going back to at least last season. It was a pretty easy call.
i actually enjoyed doc lol
We’re all in agreement that Watson is making the Braun jump and a permanent rotation guy right? RIGHT?
Imagine a series against the Suns. Nurk will have to play the game of his life at least 4x for the Suns to get close. Not win for sure, but to make it close.
Lol at the suns fans thinking they were screwed by the refs because of one iffy call and ignoring the rest of the game.
Over the last two games, Porter is averaging 24.5 pts, 10.0 rebs, 4.5 asts(!!) and 2.0 stocks on 58/44/67 shooting splits
Suns arena atmosphere is so trash. In particular the piped in crowd defense chant at 230,000 decibles is so lame. Whenever I hear it all I can think of is them playing it while us and the mavs are up 30. Such a sad look.
I’m getting my ass banned from r/nba tonight if they keep crying.
You’ll know my alt account by the Larry O Braun flair
We ain’t the ChampiAns for nuttin!!!
Pwat’s short midrange game is money
Suns made 17 more FTs than the nuggets at home and still lost LOL
Bol Bol can suplex Jokic and Jokic still wouldn’t get a foul/freethrows
Refs probably assume KD is fouled every time he missed but realized they couldn’t blow their whistle every time he missed. Otherwise, their whistle would break from being overworked.
You wanna talk about underrated buckets btw
That Mike 20 footer with just over 3 mins left to put Denver back up 3 after suns cut it to 1 that was a tough bucket (and needless to say, a vital one)
Wonder what superteams will be assembled next year to stop Jokic and the Nuggets lol
Has anyone seen or heard anything about Reggie? Or did anyone see what happened?
He was semi-obviously hurting/sore towards the end of the game. I didn’t really notice but sometime in the 3rd he got pulled and was limping and he didn’t come back in until LATE 4th, but Jokic was being super mindful to keep him from having the ball and having to do a lot.
“I try not to leave my game in the hands of the refs.” — Kevin Durant LIES
Smoking that suns pack tonight 😮💨
It’s really funny how idiots on r nba are trying to use this game as an example for “jump shooting teams don’t get fouls bro!!!”
The Denver Nuggets remain the best team in basketball.
When do I get to see a locker room celebration for PWat getting DPOG?? He was awesome on KD
https://preview.redd.it/xz62lcmdqt3c1.png?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=69432a0e4a772cbeff1960b1cfef405993f72ae0
Even Doc, a literal doctor said that they literally NEVER call that foul at the end of a game.
In the 1980’s, you know when players were “allowed to be physical” even when notorious dirty player Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (who later found forgiveness from Alex English and went on to become a noted humanist and reformed good person) got elbowed in the face like that he on multiple occasions retaliated by fucking punching the guy. Oh, and the elbow was a foul then.
Oh and no one disputed that it was a foul, which was Nurkic’s 6th which meant he was ejected because you are not allowed to have 6 fouls. The good doctor was referring to it not being a flagrant. So no free throws, Jokic still waltzes past Eubanks (a joke) and Denver wins easily.
At no point did anyone other than delusional suns fans utter the words “that’s not a foul”. Like they pointed out when Durant cried his way into free throws a few play earlier despite Watson literally not coming close to touching him at all as the replay clearly showed.
KD took 38 total shots (FG+FT) to score 30 points.
Holiday took 8 total shots to score 15 points.
I love this era
Anyone else just really hate the “Insert Team Name fan coming in peace” posts
“I fucking hate it. Every time Jokic even looks like he gets a slightest bump and it’s instant foul
When KD gets hacked or his arm gets clawed in shooting motion, no call or late whistle because they’re pressured to.
Then they call offensive foul on Nurk’s initial play that Jokic clearly was flopping like wtf? I thought this was getting fined now”
So Suns fans think KD should have gotten more FTs and Jokic should have gotten less
Had a rough week for myself but this win was a great ending to it! It was just so chill to watch. Suns came close to getting a lead towards the end but never did. We got to see both teams play out of their comfort zone, with Murray and Booker out. Both teams had really good sprints and then just dropped the ball at the end for some reason.
Suns fans are right there with Lakers as the most delusional fan base in the NBA
137 assists – 38 turnovers during 4 game winning streak.
Nuggets lead the league in assist/turnover ratio at 2.323
First game I can definitively look at and say “We don’t win that without Watson”. His best game on defense obviously. So close to being a great game on offense with those dunks. His pull up in the lane was on tonight, very good sign.
The Suns have a great collection of great players, you look at the numbers of their big 3 (I know only Durant played tonight) and their whole careers pretty much they produce. No matter the situation they are efficient, “lethal” weapons (in NBA terms, not like compared to a basketball god like Jokic). They are tailor made All Stars, you knew it before they came into the league.
​
KD will definitely 100% go into the Hall of Fame because he has the championships and was a superstar/All NBA type of guy outside of that stacked Golden State run back when he couldn’t ever win it all. If these Suns ever win a championship maybe the other two could even get into the HoF as well (if not they might still I guess since I guess I don’t get to vote). And Nurkic tries really hard.
​
So that’s a “great team”, no wonder so many people hype this Suns “superteam” up far more than the Nuggets, they definitely did last year as soon as Durant landed and “when healthy” they are favored over us again.
But here’s what the Nuggets bring to the table:
Nikola Jokic – Winner
Jamal Murray- Winner
Aaron Gordon- Winner
Michael Porter Jr- Winner
Kentavious Caldwell-Pope- Winner
Christian Braun- Winner
Reggie Jackson- Winner
DeAndre Jordon- Winner
Justin Holiday- Winner
Peyton Watson- Winner
Julian Strawther- Winner
Collin Gillespie- Winner
Zeke Nnaji- Winner
Jalen Pickett- Winner
Hunter Tyson- Winner
Braxton Key- Winner
Jay Huff- Winner
Michael Malone- Winner
David Adelman- Winner
Popeye Jones- Winner
Ryan Saunders- Winner
So both teams have their different strengths, but between the two I still like the Nuggets.
If bol bol plays we lose
Nurkic played the game of his life–and lost.
Missing our 2 and 3a while Suns are at home missing their 1a and 3 feels like a pretty even balance so its good to get the win here.
Both teams fully healthy I think we are greater than the sum of the parts so tonight was encouraging.
Lot of comments saying “kd couldn’t miss in the first half.”
… he was 8/15 lol. Good, but not like, crazy or anything.
This is the last Nugget 5/7 for the entire season. We have some tough teams, but our scheduling gets much better going forward.
I’m glad Denver stopped playing Zeke.
Nuggets 🙂
https://preview.redd.it/opl7f7ln0u3c1.jpeg?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=076a9f83b5fa806a82c6c9dfd7f40c4ec20ba915