Game Preview: Can the Suns overcome the connectivity of the Nuggets?

Who: Phoenix Suns (14-13) @ Denver Nuggets (14-12)

When: 8:00pm Arizona Time

Where: Ball Arena — Denver, Colorado

Watch: AZFamily, Suns Live

Listen: KMVP 98.7

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The holiday season is here, a time of family gatherings, awkward reunions, and, for many, the annual shift in sports focus. This week marks the moment when people start turning their heads away from football and toward basketball. And somewhere between the turkey, pie, and that one relative you forgot you had, the casual fan will inevitably ask, “So, how about those Phoenix Suns?”

What will you say?

I’ve already had a few of these conversations, and let me tell you, they’re nothing to write home about. The casual fan knows the Suns have Kevin Durant, Devin Booker, and Bradley Beal. But they’ll spot the look on your face, the slumped shoulders, the weary sigh. That’s when you’ll have to explain it to them.

My response? “Just watch.” Carve out some time during your holiday downtime, flip on the TV, and catch a Suns game. Then give me a call.

What will they see? For the next two games, they’ll see Phoenix square off against the Denver Nuggets. The Nuggets, who’ve had their struggles this season (they lost last night to the New Orleans Pelicans in overtime), still boast the lethal connective tissue that is Nikola Jokić. This isn’t the championship-winning team of yesteryear. Key ancillary players are gone.

What’s left is a squad that leads the league in assists and ranks second in field goal percentage, yet is dead last in three-point attempts and middling defensively. They’ve leaned heavily on Jokić, taxing the big man to drag them to victories.

But here’s the thing: despite their adjustments, Denver still connects. Jokić keeps them cohesive, which makes them dangerous. And your friends and family, while watching the Suns, will see the exact opposite. They’ll see a team that is broken defensively. A squad that rotates late, collapses under pressure, and leaves shooters as wide open as the spaces on a Dixie Chicks album.

Sure, the Suns have a stellar offense. But watching their defensive effort is like watching a slapstick comedy where no one remembers the script. It’s laughable, but not in a good way.

So when you get that phone call in a couple of weeks, after your friends have watched Phoenix, laugh with them. Laugh at the absurdity of it all. That the most expensive roster in NBA history can’t even defend itself out of a box.

Probable Starters

Injury Report

Suns

• Grayson Allen — OUT (Concussion Protocol)
• Bol Bol — OUT (Left Knee Contusion)
• Devin Booker — OUT (Left Groin Soreness)
• Collin Gillespie — OUT (Right Ankle Fracture)

Nuggets

• Jamal Murray — QUESTIONABLE (Right Ankjle Sprain)
• Dario Saric — PROBABLE (Left Ankle Sprain)
• Vlatko Cancar — OUT (Left Knee Surgery)
• DaRon Holmes, II — OUT (Right Achilles Tendon)

Uniform Matchup

God, those Denver unis are gross.

What to Watch For

Fight. That’d be nice, eh? It’s an organization thing and perhaps that is why it is absent from this team.

Did you see Orlando a couple of nights ago? That team is being dealt blow after blow. Paolo Bachero? Out Franz Wagner? Out. Yesterday we learned the Mo Wagner will be out for the remain of the season with a knee injury. They came out and aid an egg against the Miami Heat. Until they didn’t.

I saw this and thought, “The Suns would never.” Not this team.

It’s a neon sign flashing “mentally weak.” A team so lackadaisical it’s practically sleepwalking. When adversity hits, no one steps up. No rallying cry, no grit, no fire. What we’ve seen all season is a team that folds under pressure, drops their heads, and shuffles off the court like they’ve got somewhere better to be. Then they hit us with rehearsed, hollow quotes about how they “should’ve done this” or “could’ve prevented that.”

But let’s be real: it’s not about what could’ve been. It’s about what’s missing. And what’s missing is care. Effort. A pulse. I see it. You see it. They think we don’t. And that? That’s the most frustrating part of this lifeless squad.

So, yeah, I want to see some damn fight tonight. Because here’s the thing: they will be down by 10 at some point in this game. That’s a lock. It’s what they do next that matters. Will they dig in defensively, clamp down, and shift the tide with grit, focus, and physicality? Or will they roll the ball to Kevin Durant, hoping he can drop 35+ and bail them out again?

If it’s the latter, it’s another L. Because offense can’t be our best defense. Defense has to be. And until this team gets that through their heads, they’ll keep walking out the door with their tails tucked between their legs, telling us that they should’ve turned the ball over less or defended the perimeter better. Yeah. No shit.

Key to a Suns Win

I truly don’t know. This team is so maddeningly Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde that trying to predict their next move feels like flipping a coin in a hurricane. Keys to victory? Score more points than the Nuggets? Sure, that’s a strategy. A solid one, even. But here’s the rub: with this Suns team, strategy seems more like a suggestion, and execution? A foreign concept entirely.

If there’s a game plan floating around somewhere, it’s either locked in a vault or gathering dust on some forgotten clipboard. The players? They look like they’re trying to freestyle their way through a symphony, each note more disjointed than the last. It’s chaos masquerading as basketball, and the only predictable thing about it is how wildly unpredictable it all is.

Play random. Maybe we’ll randomly get some stops. Highly unlikely against a team with the scoring prowess of the Nuggets.

Prediction

The Suns’ defense has more holes than the jersey fabric they don each night. They can’t stop anyone, not even a light breeze, let alone the Nuggets. And speaking of Denver, they’re already one of the most efficient scoring machines in the league. Sure, they’re not exactly three-point sharpshooters on paper — but against the Suns? Paper doesn’t matter. Whatever your weakness is becomes your superpower when you play Phoenix.

So, let’s call it now: the Nuggets, who average 30.5 three-point attempts per game, decide to audition for Splash Brothers 2.0 tonight. They hoist 45 threes, drain 23 of them, and leave the Suns incinerated, rocketing them straight into the celestial body they’re named after.

Nuggets 139, Suns 128