The Denver Nuggets (36-16) were among the most active teams during the NBA trade deadline and they could trot out some of their new acquisitions against the Suns (20-31) in Phoenix Saturday.
Denver got a much-needed two-day break after notching arguably their most impressive win of the season against the Utah Jazz Wednesday. Due to injuries and trades, the Nuggets were only able to play seven players in Salt Lake City. They refused to use that as a crutch, as they rallied back from two double-digit deficits to secure their first win in Utah during Michael Malone’s tenure as head coach. The team is 7-3 in its last 10 games, picking up noteworthy wins against Utah (2x), Milwaukee, Houston and New Orleans along the way. The team will hope to incorporate its latest additions, Jordan McRae, Noah Vonleh and Keita Bates-Diop on Saturday in Phoenix against a struggling Suns team.
Phoenix has slipped after an exciting 6-3 start to the 2019-20 season. The Suns are in the midst of a four-game losing streak and 3-7 in their last 10 outings. Points have been hard to come by for Monte Williams’s team during that stretch, with the group sitting 24th in the league in scoring at 109.3 points per game. Phoenix is also struggling to guard opponents in the paint recently, allowing 52.2 points in the paint game. That should be advantageous to the Nuggets, who are ninth in the NBA in that category – scoring 49.0 points in the paint per game.