Denver Nuggets vs Phoenix Suns Prediction: Can the Nuggets take advantage of the troubled Suns?

NBA is on and once again, we have been blessed with a wonderful slate of games. It is Christmas and the festivities usually are full of iconic match-ups. However, the festivities haven’t been as enjoyable for some teams that have lost their way. One of those teams, the Phoenix Suns is going to take on the Denver Nuggets. Can the Suns put their struggles behind or will the Nuggets be too hot to handle?

The Nuggets enter the affair after another stunning win as they dusted off the Trail Blazers 120:107 as Nikola Jokic dropped 29 points. This was third straight win for the red-hot Denver and they have now won six of their last seven games, five of these coming at home. As a result, the Nuggets are among the top teams and have posted a highly impressive record of 20 wins and 10 losses. This has been a great start for the team that now has their key players Jamal Murray and Michael Porter Jr. active again, while the inclusion of Bruce Brown and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope has maintained a terrific balance.

The Nuggets have attained much better defensive balance in the last two games and for a team that has given up a ton of inside points, this is a big chance, and potentially a transformative one too. The Nuggets have perhaps the most well-oriented and methodical offense, courtesy of amazing post-play of Jokic who can also shoot and provide amazing making. The offensive improvements this season means that the Nuggets. This has been a great coaching season for Michael Malone who continues to hit new strides as the decision marker for the team.

Things got from bad to worse as the Suns suffered a 100:125 loss against the Grizzlies in another awful performance. This was their second straight loss and they had lost to a struggling Wizards too. This has been a tough season for Phoenix and for a team that didn’t lose the 12th game till around their 50th contest, this season has been too tormenting. The trouble is that they have lost the defensive discipline and without Devin Booker or with a struggling Booker, their woes have been exacerbated. It is clear that there are some issues with the balance since the team parted ways with Jae Crowder and lost Cam Johnson to injury.

The Suns got back in the groove for a bit, winning three in a row but the last two losses at home have reduced them to 14 losses and even though 19 wins against these losses are not a bad number, expectations are sky-high from the last season’s best record-holder. With the way things are developing, the team may have to pull off some trades. Deandre Ayton has had some strong efforts, Mikal Bridges has done well while Paul has been effective too, but the overall team performances haven’t been as prolific as they should have been. Will there be some trades or is this just a brief hitch?

• Nuggets: OUT: Collin Gillepsie, Jeff Green. Game-Time Decisions: Jamal Murray, Zeke Nnaji;
• Suns: OUT: Cameron Payne, Cam Johnson.

• Expected Leading Scorers: Nikola Jokic(28-33 Points), Devin Booker(24-29 Points);
• Expected Leading Rebounders: Nikola Jokic(11-13 Rebounds), Deandre Ayton(9-11 Rebounds);
• Expected Leading Playmakers: Chris Paul(9-12 Assists), Nikola Jokic(8-12 Assists).

The Suns are expected to have Booker back in the mix and that is the best unit for the Suns at the moment alongside Bridges, Ayton, Paul, and Craig, however, the team’s bench is too shallow. The bench advantage belongs to the Nuggets with Bruce Brown and Bones Hyland as two dependable reserves. Controlling Nikola Jokic is going to be the biggest challenge for Phoenix because the big man has hit one of those special patches where the game appears too simple for him. I believe he will carry the patch here and I predict a 122:116 in favor of Denver.