Three Takeaways From Suns’ Narrow Christmas Day Loss To Nuggets

The Phoenix Suns were pushed to their absolute limit by the Denver Nuggets on Christmas Day, but they faltered in overtime to fall, 128-125. thanks to Nikola Jokic’s triple-double of 41 points, 15 rebounds, and 15 assists.

Here are some takeaways from the narrow loss.

Better Team Composure

The Suns fell into a double-digit hole when Booker left the game and it would have been easy to write them off then, but they fought back and built their own lead that swelled to 12 points.

Carried by Landry Shamet’s game-high 31 points, the Suns continued to keep the Nuggets at bay whenever the home team tried to keep the game close.

Even without Booker to lead the charge, the Suns played intense basketball for the better part of 48 minutes and it would seem as if they were poised to take home the win and stop their losing streak at two games.

However, crucial turnovers down the stretch nixed their chances of winning and the game was sent to overtime.

Denver had a two-possession lead early in the extra period and Phoenix tried their best to keep in step thanks to their efforts as a whole, but it was not their night on Christmas 2022.

Despite the loss, the Suns did not look as rattled for much of the game, but the game-sealing turnover by Mikal Bridges leaves a lot to be desired.

As a whole, Phoenix relied heavily on one another to pull out a team victory and while it will be recorded as a loss against their record, the silver lining in all of it is that they kept fighting even with some major pieces on the bench.

Devin Booker’s Troublesome Injuries

The Suns welcomed back Booker into the fold against the Nuggets, but his playing time was only limited to just four minutes after reinjuring his left groin in the very first quarter.

Booker has been the undisputed MVP for Phoenix this season after a stellar start to the year and is on pace to break his career-high in points and his availability will be heavily tied to how far the Suns can go.

Injuries have hampered Booker’s availability in recent seasons after only being limited to just 67 and 68 games in the 2020-21 and 2021-22 seasons respectively – with his most notable one being a hamstring issue during the 2021 NBA Finals.

The Suns have performed terribly without Booker on the team with disappointing losses against the likes of the New Orleans Pelicans, Washington Wizards and Memphis Grizzlies.

An MVP trophy is certainly in Booker’s sights, but with Nikola Jokic again primed to take it home, the long-term picture has to take precedence for Phoenix and give him some extended rest at the price of some losses.

Every win matters for the Suns down the line, but giving their franchise cornerstone some much-needed rest and recovery time is of the utmost importance if they want to be in prime form for the playoffs in June.

Landry Shamet And Damion Lee’s Hot Hands

Head coach Monty Williams had to rely on Damion Lee and Landry Shamet to carry the scoring load and it proved to be the right call.

The pair combined for 49 of the Suns’ 125 points and were the ones mainly responsible for keeping them in the race against a Nuggets squad that featured a big game from Aaron Gordon and Jamal Murray while Chris Paul and Mikal Bridges were kept in check for most of the game.

Shamet in particular had a breakout run to close his week as he had another 30-point game, while the bench had their own shining moments.

Backup big Bismack Biyombo and Josh Okogie also pitched in with five and four points respectively as they effectively stopped the tide from completely turning on them quickly.

With Booker likely absent in the next few games, the trio of Paul, Bridges and Ayton will need the help of Shamet and Lee to provide the hot hand

Much has been said about the Suns’ lack of production off the bench this season and though it dropped them to No. 4 in the West, it is not yet time for Suns fans to push the panic button.

There is hope for them once the calendar turns to January though as both Camerons, Payne and Johnson are expected to be back by then which will surely improve their chances of racking up victories.