PHOENIX — The largest stage of the regular season sparked the Phoenix Suns back to the energy they need to be playing with in a 110-100 Christmas night win over the Denver Nuggets.
After a massive drop-off in defensive intensity over the last couple of weeks, leading to Phoenix going 5-12 after beginning the season 9-2, the Suns at least showed they can recapture what worked so well for them initially at the start of the year.
In those opening 11 games, Phoenix was 13th in defensive efficiency (112.9) on Cleaning the Glass’ database that eliminates garbage time. Over the next 17 contests, the Suns were 28th (120.1). Yes, injuries played a role. But the eye test backed up the prevailing thought that notable absences shouldn’t take the primary blame.
Suns guard Bradley Beal said head coach Mike Budenholzer challenged everyone individually after Monday’s loss to Denver in which the recent woes reached an all-time high.
“We couldn’t do what we did the other night,” Beal said of the response.
The opening of Wednesday’s matchup featured plenty of energy and engagement defensively, putting even more focus on if it would sustain the rest of the night. While Denver scored 34 points in the first quarter, it was held to 22 in each of the remaining three periods.
The Nuggets responded to the intensity with some physicality in different areas but could not take care of the ball through that. The Suns committed seven fewer turnovers (16-9) and doubled up Denver in points off turnovers (20-10).
With Phoenix up seven and a little over eight minutes to go, backup point guard Monte Morris battled with Denver’s Jamal Murray for a loose ball, knocking it off him out of bounds. He got fired up in front of his own bench, and after a Beal bucket, Beal got inside a passing lane in that same spot on the floor to force a Denver turnover. Morris then missed a 3, only for Jusuf Nurkic to tip out an offensive rebound for a Royce O’Neale 3.
That 5-0 spurt was all of that grit coming to fruition, a classic case of how the basketball gods will reward you if you outwork the opposition. O’Neale’s 3 broke a 2-for-16 shooting slump for the Suns to kick off the second half that did not bury them because of the energy, including a third quarter when the Suns edged it out 27-22 to briefly end big-time struggles recently in those dozen minutes.
“When you can’t make shots or you just in a little hole as a team, just that physicality and that energy is a good remedy to get you out of that little hole that you in,” Suns forward Kevin Durant said.
That was a time when Phoenix’s bench with its close proximity really got involved in the game, a boost you could feel.
“Honestly man, if you look at all those games, that’s why we lost — just weren’t having fun,” Beal said. “Weren’t enjoying it, just pressing trying to make the perfect play. … I think just finding that joy, it uplifts you in every category of the game.”
Morris and Josh Okogie brought waves of that intensity off the bench, and so did rookie Ryan Dunn in the starting lineup. While an ideal Suns rotation does not include both Dunn and Okogie due to their lack of shooting, for the time being, those guys have to keep playing with the hustle they bring.
“He’s the energy provider,” Beal said of Okogie.
The victory was Phoenix’s first on Christmas since 2009, snapping a recent three-game skid this decade.
Durant became the 11th player in NBA history to play on Christmas at least a dozen times, with LeBron James’ 19th holiday contest on Wednesday setting the latest high mark. Despite Durant’s propensity for rising to the occasion, he entered the day on a bit of a coal streak. In his last four Christmas outings, dating back to 2017, Durant had not hit the 30-point threshold. He’s averaged 22.8 points per game and shooting 44.1% from the field across that stretch, very good numbers for most players and very not good numbers for Kevin Durant.
That oddly continued on Wednesday with 9-of-26 shooting for 27 points but Durant did not turn it over while adding six assists, two steals and two blocks. He and Beal were leading by example with the high motors. Beal had arguably his best game of the season with 27 points (11-for-21), two rebounds, four assists, four steals, a block and three turnovers. Both guys tied their season highs for field goal attempts in the first half, aggression Phoenix needs without Devin Booker (left groin strain)
This is the type of stage Beal talked about getting a chance to be on again when coming to Phoenix. He had only played on Christmas twice and not since 2017.
Tyus Jones’ scoring punch persisted on Wednesday with a vital 17 points that were easy to go by unnoticed if you didn’t have a box score in front of you. He has a case as the most consistent Sun this season.
Booker did not play in the first Suns fixture since the two-game timeline on his re-evaluation period passed. He got a pregame workout in on the court behind closed doors, a solid indication that he wasn’t just getting standstill shooting in and that there was some level of intensity to it. His listing on the injury report graduating from “soreness” to a strain is typically how Phoenix elevates injuries once it has been a few days. Budenholzer did not offer any updates on his status beyond the workout.
Grayson Allen is in the concussion protocol and got shots up pregame as well, a good sign for his potential return.
Denver got a fairly blah Nikola Jokic game to his standards — 25 points (10-of-19), 15 rebounds and two assists with two turnovers — and not enough from the supporting cast. It shot 8-of-29 (27.6%) from 3.
