Nuggets hand Suns worst loss of season Phoenix is in trouble again

DENVER – The Denver Nuggets made the roughly three-hour flight home from New Orleans to play Phoenix for the second straight game on Monday night – and absolutely destroyed the Suns.

Phoenix trailed by as many as 28 points in the second half in a 117-90 loss to a team that has just a plus/minus ratio of plus 2.5 and went nine games with just one possession.

Denver has played to the finish most of the season, which was also the case when it rallied from a 17-point second-half deficit just 24 hours earlier to beat the five-game, three-game winning Pelicans (132-129).

Incidentally, one of New Orleans’ five wins came against the Suns.

The Nuggets are 8-1 with just one possession in those games. Monday’s win wasn’t even close.

The Suns were without Devin Booker (left groin soreness), Grayson Allen (concussion protocol) and Bol Bol (left knee contusion), but they still have Kevin Durant, Bradley Beal and talent to follow.

The latter didn’t matter. Denver still thoroughly defeated them for the second game in a row.

The Suns (14-14) are miles removed from their 8-1 start. They are 6-13 in their last 19 games and have lost the last three in which they gave up 120, 133 and 117 points.

Phoenix will have a chance to avenge this ugly defeat at home on Christmas Day. The Suns may get Booker, Allen and Bol back, but the Nuggets (16-11) beat them without Jamal Murray (ankle), who they hope will be back for Wednesday’s game.

Three-time MVP Nikola Jokic scored 32 points in three quarters after not playing in the fourth quarter. Michael Porter Jr. added 24 points on 10 of 12 shooting.

Here are three takeaways from the Suns’ loss on Monday.

Worst defeat so far

This was Phoenix’s worst loss of the season, and not just because it was their biggest loss. They lacked commitment and energy against a team that was playing back-to-back in the second round.

They had poor closeouts on 3s. They gave up countless drives to the rim.

There were again careless ball losses. No box outs. Little to no resistance.

Kevin Durant and Bradley Beal each scored 23 points, but the Suns shot 39.8% from the field and scored fewer than 100 points. They committed 15 turnovers, which led to just 18 Denver points.

That’s actually an improvement over the losses in Indiana and Detroit, but poor shooting combined with even worse defense doomed the Suns.

The Nuggets shot 51%, scored 50 points in the paint and scored 19 points in transition.

Phoenix didn’t win any phases of this game. Not a single one.

It was embarrassing for a team that expects to compete for a championship. Instead, they look to their record and place in the Western Conference – 11th.

Right now they are not a playoff team.

Another bad start to the second half

The Suns used a 14-5 run to cut Denver’s double-digit lead to four at halftime, but an 11-3 run put them behind by 15 points.

This is a microcosm of what is wrong with the suns.

Poor defense. Jokic got what he wanted from Jusuf Nurkic. Porter Jr. knocked down Royce O’Neale’s slow closeout 3-pointer.

Durant made a poor crosscourt pass that his former Oklahoma City teammate Russell Westbrook stole and took back for the one-handed dunk.

Then, after a Phoenix timeout, the Suns gave up an offensive rebound to Westbrook, who then knocked it down with a hand and a matching yell.

It’s all too common for Phoenix to come out despite playing well at the end of the half and playing slow, flat and lacking energy at the start of the third quarter.

The Nuggets outscored the Suns 45-28 in the third period, shooting an insane 69.2% from the field and going 7 of 11 from 3.

Absolutely inexcusable Suns defense.

Will O’Neale, Dunn start off the bench?

When Beal was sidelined at the start of the season, rookie Ryan Dunn started and O’Neale came off the bench.

Coach Mike Budenholzer’s reasoning for this decision?

He liked O’Neale coming off the bench because he contributed in the second unit.

Now, in a similar situation with Booker out, he starts O’Neale and brings Dunn off the bench.

Dunn has cooled off significantly, going from 3 to 11 of his first 25 attempts in his first five games. He has gone 15 of 59 since then.

O’Neale had a torrid seven-game stretch from three games, shooting 28 of 47, but the first half on Monday was 0-5. He finished with 2 out of 8 points, scoring six points.

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