Suns make late push, but fall big to Nuggets

• The game tips off at 6 p.m., and will be televised by Arizona’s Family and Arizona’s Family Sports.
• The Nuggets (0-1) began the season with a 137-131 loss Thursday at Golden State.

DENVER – The Phoenix Suns dropped a second straight game, falling 133-111, to the Denver Nuggets before a sellout crowd of 20,025 at Ball Arena in the second of road back-to-back games on Saturday, Oct 25.

The Suns (1-2) trailed by as many as 22 points in the second half. They will conclude their three-game road trip Monday against the Utah Jazz (1-1).

Denver (1-1) led by as many as 17 points in the first half, pushing its lead up to 20 points in the third quarter.

The Suns went on a 13-2 run to cut the lead to nine points, but the Nuggets responded with an 11-0 surge to push their advantage back up to 20 points, 94-74, with 2:07 left in the third.

Phoenix made one final run in the fourth with a 13-2 run to trail, 110-99, with 6:48 remaining in the game. Nikola Jokic and Aaron Gordon checked back into the game and Denver went on an 11-0 run.

The Suns had back-to-back turnovers and were then called for a delay of game that resulted in a technical foul. Devin Booker took offense to the delay of game and was hit with a technical.

The Suns ended up with three straight turnovers in falling behind, 121-101, with 4:12 left.

Phoenix was without Mark Williams (right knee injury management) and Jalen Green (right hamstring strain). The Suns are optimistic Williams will be available for Monday’s game and excited about Green’s progress in returning from the hamstring strain.

Booker paced the Suns with a game-high 31 points on 10-of-16 shooting after scoring only 18 points on 5-of-10 in Friday’s 129-102 loss to the Los Angeles Clippers to begin the three-game road trip.

All five Denver starters reached double figures in points as Jokic, the three-time NBA MVP, posted a triple-double of 14 points, 14 rebounds and 15 assists to mark his 166^th career triple-double.

Suns down big again at half

The Phoenix Suns trail, 71-54, Saturday, Oct. 25, to the Denver Nuggets in the second of a road back-to-back.

The Nuggets (0-1) closed the half on a 10-1 run to build their largest lead of the game.

Devin Booker has a team-high 13 points to lead the Suns (1-1) on 4-of-7 shooting while Dillon Brooks has added 11 on 4-of-10 shooting.

Phoenix has committed 10 turnovers that have led to 14 Denver points.

Jamal Murray has a game-high 14 points to lead the Nuggets while Aaron Gordon has 13.

Three-time NBA MVP Nikola Jokic has just four points on one shot attempt from the field, but he has 11 assists and seven rebounds.

Denver is shooting 50% from the field.

This is the third straight game Phoenix has trailed by double figures at the half.

Sacramento was up 17 points in the Oct. 22 opener, but Phoenix rallied to win, 120-116, at home.

The Los Angeles Clippers took a 72-56 lead Oct. 24 on the Suns into halftime. The Clippers won in dominant fashion, 129-102.

Suns sticking with same starting lineup

The Phoenix Suns will start Devin Booker, Grayson Allen, Dillon Brooks, Ryan Dunn and Oso Ighodaro for Friday’s game against the Denver Nuggets in the second of a three-game road trip.

The Suns went with the same starting lineup in the first two games. All five started the first three preseason games and rested the fourth and final one.

Phoenix is still without Jalen Green, who hasn’t played this season counting the preseason with a right hamstring strain. Mark Williams is also out with right knee injury management as he came off the bench the first two games of the season.

The Suns have a very challenging matchup at center against three-time MVP Nikola Jokic. Ighodaro gives up a bunch of size to Jokic. Phoenix may very well play all three available bigs as Nick Richards and rookie 7-footer Khaman Maluach are backing up Ighodaro.

The Nuggets are starting Jamal Murray, Christian Braun, Cam Johnson, Aaron Gordon and Jokic. Johnson started his NBA career with the Suns and he was on the 2021 finals team and 2021-22 squad that won a franchise-record 64 games.

Johnson was part of the blockbuster Kevin Durant trade before the 2023 trade deadline. The Suns traded Mikal Bridges, Jae Crowder, Johnson and four first-round picks to the Brooklyn Nets for TJ Warren and Durant.

The Nuggets traded Michael Porter Jr. and a 2032 first-round pick to Brooklyn for Johnson, one of the league’s best shooters.

Williams added to Suns injury list

The Phoenix Suns are down two key players for their third game of the season.

Jalen Green remains out with a right hamstring strain. He wasn’t expected to play against Denver Nuggets in the second of a back-to-back. He didn’t play in the preseason and has yet to see action in the regular season.

Green is day-to-day as he hadn’t been ruled out for Monday’s game against the Utah Jazz going into the three-game road trip that started Friday against the Los Angeles Clippers.

Suns coach Jordan Ott said Green recovered well from his Friday workout.

“Great,” Ott said. “Continues to progress. Day-by-day, he gets closer to playing. We feel good about it. We’ll see how he progresses.”

The Suns will also be without Mark Williams, who is listed as out with right knee injury management. Williams missed all preseason, but he played the first two games of the regular season.

“Just part of the plan,” Ott said. “I think to just continue to build up his strength. You know, he started three games in four nights, so it was just all part of the plan.”

Ott is optimistic Williams will play Monday night against Utah.

“If everything comes back,” Ott said. “We can continue to assess him. Everything looked good coming out. He didn’t play a ton of minutes (vs. Clippers) because of how the game got out of hand, but yeah, everything looked good.”

Williams played a total of 106 games in three seasons with the Charlotte Hornets. The Suns traded two first-round picks to the Hornets in landing Williams during the 2025 NBA Draft. The 7-footer has been on a target number of minutes coming off the bench.

Williams played 24 minutes in Wednesday’s season opener Phoenix won over the Sacramento Kings, but he only registered 14 in Friday’s loss to the Los Angeles Clippers.

Williams had six points and 11 rebounds in the opener. Two nights later, he only scored two points on 1-of-5 shooting, grabbed six rebounds and picked up four fouls.

Oso Ighodaro will make his third straight start at center for the Suns in the regular season after starting three preseason games and resting the fourth and final one. Phoenix’s depth at center will be tested going up against three-time MVP, Nuggets big Nikola Jokic.

Have opinions about the current state of the Suns? Reach Suns Insider Duane Rankin at dmrankin@gannett.com or contact him at 480-810-5518. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter, at @DuaneRankin.

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