Denver Nuggets

The Denver Nuggets defeated the Phoenix Suns 128-125 in overtime, capping off a five-game NBA slate on Christmas Day.

He saved the best for last though, which had the entire arena in absolute awe of the audacity and athleticism. They’ve approached the season like a checklist, with Murray clearing certain benchmarks to be ready for the stretch run of the season. It seems like they’re finding themselves on the fly and are just as good as we thought they could be. The Nuggets needed their bench unit to survive, and it did because Jamal willed it. Gordon finished the game with 28 points and 13 rebounds, including 7 offensive rebounds. Whenever the Nuggets needed a clutch basket, they turned to the big fella to direct everything, and he delivered. The effort at the beginning of the season was a bit lackluster, and the details weren’t as crisp. Though he missed one of two clutch shots at the very end of regulation, he dunked home a game-tying shot with about 10 seconds remaining to send the game to overtime, taking advantage of the attention thrown Joker’s way. Whether Jokić wins the award at the end of the year is anybody’s guess, but it certainly appears that he will be in the running once again. Christmas Day is when the stars come out to play, and the Nuggets knew they needed Nikola Jokić to be at his best to defeat a really good team. He led the Nuggets through some difficult stretches to earn a clutch win over the Suns, who lost Devin Booker in the first quarter due to a nagging groin injury. The Denver Nuggets defeated the Phoenix Suns 128-125 in overtime, capping off a five-game NBA slate on Christmas Day.

The Denver Nuggets started their game off with the Phoenix Suns looking to deliver a death blow in the first quarter. They started the game on an 11-2 run ...

Shamet had a chance to tie the game that missed, and the Suns proceeded to throw away the ball to Bruce Brown who ran out the clock on the other end to close out the overtime win. With 8:30 remaining in the game, Jokic was set to re-enter the game for the final stretch with the Nuggets down by five. With just over four minutes remaining, the Nuggets were in the midst of a 4-0 run that turned into a 7-0 run over a 2:00 minute stretch that had gotten the Nugget back to within one. In the final two minutes of the quarter, Nikola Jokic started to take over, and he was doing the work on both ends of the floor as he led the team in cutting the lead down to three as Denver was trailing 84-81 heading into the fourth quarter. Denver started the final period with some strong plays on both ends of the floor from Jamal Murray, but they gave up the fourth 3-pointer of the night from Landry Shamet, who was now up to 22 points off of the bench with just under 10 minutes remaining in the game. Shamet’s fifth triple of the game gave Phoenix a 3-point lead back, but a tip from Jokic made it a one-point game with 90 seconds to go in the game. After getting open looks early and often to start the game, it seemed as though the Suns were being fed the playcalls every time down the floor as they were constantly in a spot to contest the shots. Following that tie, we saw the Nuggets continue to struggle on both ends of the floor. Every time the Nuggets would score, the Suns would answer right back. In the final few minutes of the first quarter, the Suns started storming back. The Suns continued that run to start the second quarter, and they took the lead 29-28 around 90 seconds into the second quarter. After the lead was 15, it had shrunk to a four-point game heading into the second quarter with the Nuggets leading 28-24.

After Friday's loss, Phoenix Suns coach Monty Williams wasn't a fan of how his team took the floor in recent appearances. "Whether it is Boston, Memphis, ...

The Suns are now on a three-game losing streak. He also missed two games prior to his last absence with a hamstring injury. Against top competition within the conference, the Suns had felt inferior. [Devin Booker Expected to Play vs. He's now dropped 30 points in his last two of three games. "Whether it is Boston, Memphis, these teams that are big and physical and want to put their hands on us, we don’t have the pre-game edge that we’ve had around here," Williams said.