Who: Phoenix Suns (1-1) @ Denver Nuggets (0-1)
When: 6:00 pm Arizona Time
Where: Ball Arena — Denver, Colorado
Watch: Arizona’s Family 3TV, Arizona’s Family Sports, Suns+
Listen: KMVP 98.7, KSUN
The Phoenix
Suns are fresh off a blowout loss to the Los Angeles Clippers, and their next opponent won’t get any easier. The Denver Nuggets await Phoenix, who will play their second game in as many nights as they look to right the ship after a disappointing performance on Friday night.
It will be their second consecutive home opener in as many nights as well. And yes, that matters to an extent since the energy in openers always seems to be a bit higher. We’ll see if that gives them an extra push or is too much for them to handle against one of the elites in the West.
Phoenix enters this contest as -13.5 point underdogs (via FanDuel), which honestly feels about right given the circumstances. Denver is coming off a disappointing loss and will have fresh legs and an energetic crowd behind them in their home opener. This is just Denver’s second game of the season.
The Suns will need to be virtually perfect to walk out of the Mile High City with a win.
Probable Starters
PHOENIX
- Devin Booker
- Grayson Allen
- Dillon Brooks
- Ryan Dunn
- Oso Ighodaro
DENVER
- Jamal Murray
- Christian Braun
- Cameron Johnson
- Aaron Gordon
- Nikola Jokic
Injury Report
Suns
- Jalen Green — Out (Hamstring strain)
- Mark Williams — Out (Injury Management)
Nuggets
- N/A
What to Watch For
I mean, do we even have to warn you about Nikola Jokic at this point? Phoenix is going to have to use that deep center rotation to throw as many bodies and different looks as possible on the Joker.
For Phoenix, how they choose to deploy their center rotation to is already a fascinating storyline, but it gets even more interesting to follow with Jokic/Valanciunas as the opponents. Mark Williams is out tonight due to injury management coming off a back-to-back, so expect Nick Richards to get some heavy minutes in this one. We could even see some Maluach minutes. They’ll need all the size they can get out there to handle Denver’s monstrous big-man duo.
I would not be surprised if they made a starting lineup adjustment with Richards starting over Oso, who would be greatly outsized by Jokic.
Aaron Gordon just had himself the game of his life in their season-opening OT loss to the Warriors. The former Arizona Wildcat dropped a career-high 50 points on 10-11 shooting from three-point range in 39 minutes. Phoenix will also face former Sun Cam Johnson, one of the Nuggets’ newest additions after dealing MPJ for him this summer.
Denver added Cam Johnson, Jonas Valanciunas, Bruce Brown, and Tim Hardaway Jr. to boost their depth this offseason.
I will be interested to see how the Nuggets defend Booker in this one. They have a capable group of “team-defenders” on their roster, but not a ton of point-of-attack demons that typical contenders throw at Booker.
Another thing I’m interested in is seeing who Dillon Brooks will target tonight. In game one, it was DeMar DeRozan; in game two, it was James Harden. Is it Jamal Murray? Or will Aaron Gordon be the target after his performance on Thursday? Either way, I expect him and Dunn to be the defenders on Murray/Gordon, with Booker and Allen taking the assignments on Braun and Johnson.
Key to a Suns Win
The keys to a Suns win are simple. Devin Booker needs to play like a star. Plain and simple.
We will need at least 30+ points from him, but probably more like 35 or more if the Suns want any chance of stealing this one on the road. He will need help, no doubt, and that starts with making Jokic uncomfortable by elite team defense and aggressive rotations, closing out on their shooters. We saw how quickly the Kings and Clippers found offense early in the first two games. The Suns must find a way to cut off those extended lapses, even if those teams were draining well-contested threes.
So in short, we need the defense to be locked in and for our star to play like one.
Prediction
Unfortunately, I don’t see a world where Phoenix wins tonight. I would be more than happy to be wrong and eat crow later tonight, but I think the Nuggets win this one pretty convincingly. I expect the Suns to fight, but the odds are stacked against them in this one.
Nuggets 127, Suns 113
