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Starters beginning to gel as Suns beat Nuggets
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Carmelo Anthony (left) and O'Neal talk during Saturday's game at
the U.S. Airways Center in Phoenix. (AP Photo: Rick Scuteri)
All five starters scored in double-digits for the Phoenix Suns on Saturday night as they beat the slumping Denver Nuggets at home 108-101.
Amar’e Stoudemire led all scorers with his 27 points, and also led Phoenix on the glass with 10 rebounds. Shaquille O’Neal was just one rebound shy of a double-double as he finished with 19 points and nine rebounds.
Steve Nash had a game-high 11 assists to go along with his 16 points, and Jason Richardson hit 4 of 6 from beyond the three-point divide to finish with 19. Grant Hill took just five shots on the night, but made four of them to score 11.
A tight contest all night long, both teams made nearly the same percentage of their shots, but the big discrepancy came at the free-throw line. Denver shot just 69 percent (16 for 23) from the charity stripe, while Phoenix shot 82 percent (23 for 28).
O’Neal, who continues to prolong the inevitable journey to 5,000 free throw misses, made 5 of his 8 attempts, bringing his career total of misses to 4,995. He currently has the second most misses all-time in the NBA, with just Wilt Chamberlain ahead of him at 5,805.
A brighter milestone to follow is Nash’s continued rise on the NBA’s all-time assists leader board. With his 11 assists against Denver, Nash (currently 13th all-time) now has 6,993, just 102 behind Tim Hardaway (7,095) for 12th place.
Once Nash catches Hardaway, current Phoenix head coach Terry Porter will be next on the list. Porter is 11th all-time with 7,160 career assists.
Since returning to Phoenix in 2004, Nash has dished over 800 assists in each of the past four seasons. If he reaches that mark again this year, he could viably reach as high as 9th on the all-time list, where Maurice Cheeks currently sits with 7,392 assists.
The loss to Phoenix was Denver’s third loss in a row, placing them back in a tie with the Portland Trail Blazers (17-10) for the Northwest Division lead. Since obtaining hometown hero Chauncey Billups from the Detroit Pistons for Allen Iverson, the Nuggets are 16-7, and off to their best start in franchise history.
In a Yahoo! Sports story, Nuggets forward Carmelo Anthony was quoted saying, “I think Chauncey’s the best thing to happen to Denver so far.”
Billups had 18 points and eight assists on Saturday night, but also had a game-high seven turnovers. Along with Billups’ turnovers, the Nuggets did something that almost no other team in the NBA has been able to do against the Suns this year- commit more turnovers. Denver’s 22 turnovers easily eclipsed Phoenix’s 16, which might have been the difference in the end.
The Suns (16-11) will enjoy four days off as they prepare for their Christmas Day showdown at home against their rival, the San Antonio Spurs (15-10). In their first meeting on opening night in San Antonio, the Suns beat the Spurs 103-98.
