|
 Stay ahead the entire game.
Forward Channing Frye scored a season-high 30 points, and the Suns
scored the first eight points of the game and never trailed in a
117-103 win over the Denver Nuggets.
Forward Markieff Morris added 16 points, and guard Goran Dragic had
15 points and six assists for the Suns, who never led in Friday's
home loss to the Dallas Mavericks but rebounded to beat the Nuggets
for the third time in as many meetings this season.
Frye hit 12 of 16 shots from the field and five of seven from
3-point range as the Suns (23-17) moved three full games in front of
the Nuggets (20-20) in the battle for the final Western Conference
playoff spot. Phoenix also clinched the season series for the first
times since 2009-10 and beat Denver at US Airways Center for the
15th time in the past 18 meetings.
"Over the last few games, teams have been taking away certain things
and I was shortcutting myself," Frye said. "I wasn't being as
aggressive as I should. There was a lot of standing. Tonight I was
trying to be as active as I could and shooting shots that I know are
good shots."
Frye, who missed all of last season with an enlarged heart, was
three points shy of his career high set April 11, 2011, at
Minnesota.
"He was hot from the start," Phoenix coach Jeff Hornacek said. "He
makes it very difficult on teams when he's making those shots. If we
put him in the pick-and-roll and they don't help on him, our point
guards go all the way to the basket. And every time he touches it,
you think he's going to make it."
Denver forward Anthony Randolph had 19 points, and forward Wilson
Chandler, guard Evan Fournier and guard Ty Lawson added 17 points
each. The Nuggets lost for the third time in four games, a stretch
in which they allowed at least 116 points all four times.
The Phoenix bench contributed 54 points — 26 of them from Markieff
Morris and forward Marcus Morris (10 points). Reserve guard Leandro
Barbosa returned to add 13 after missing two games with a shoulder
sprain. Center Alex Len had the best game of his rookie season with
nine points and six rebounds, while guard Ish Smith contributed
seven points, seven rebounds and five assists.
"Once again our defense failed us," Denver coach Brian Shaw said.
"It happened from the starters and through the guys they came off
the bench with. As a matter of fact, the guys off their bench played
so well they never had to come back with their starters."
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Denver pulled within five points twice in the fourth quarter,
the last time on a free throw by center Timofey Mozgov that made
it 91-86 with 9:26 left. Len followed two Markieff Morris free
throws with a 5-footer, and Marcus Morris capped the run with a
three-point play to make it 98-86 with 7:17 left. Denver never
got closer than 10 the rest of the way.
"We got it down from 14 points (behind) to five, from 10 to five
... we just couldn't get over the hump," said Lawson, who had a
game-high 14 assists. "We were getting open shots. We just
didn't knock them down."
Phoenix had three 3-pointers in the first three minutes of play,
and Frye's second 3-pointer made it 11-2 Suns with 8:57 left in
the first quarter.
Denver, thanks to 10 points from forward J.J. Hickson, pulled
within 25-24 on two free throws from Mozgov. The Suns closed the
quarter on a 9-1 run, with two Len free throws pushing the
Phoenix lead to 34-25.
Fournier, making his first start of the season in place of guard
Randy Foye (stomach virus), hit his first five shots from the
field and led Denver with 14 points in the half.
Frye, whose previous season high was 25 points, had 17 in the
first half and extended Phoenix's lead to 54-44 with his third
and fourth 3-pointers of the half, the last with 4:32 left. Five
straight points from Randolph helped Denver pull within 62-56 at
intermission.
NOTES: The Nuggets led by 11 in the third quarter and 21 in the
second quarter of the first two meetings with Phoenix, but
Denver lost both times. ... Suns G Goran Dragic scored at least
20 points in eight of the past 12 games, averaging 22.3 points
per game over that span. ... With the Denver Broncos headed to
the Super Bowl, Nuggets coach Brian Shaw was asked if having a
winning football program is a plus or minus for other Denver
sports teams: "I definitely think it puts pressure, but a fun
kind of pressure when one teams does well for the others to live
up to it, too. One year when I was in Los Angeles, (the Lakers)
won the championship, the women's team (the Sparks) won, the
(Anaheim) Angels won a World Series ... It makes it fun for the
whole town." ... Suns F Markieff Morris is averaging 23 points
in three meetings with the Nuggets this season, shooting 56.4
percent from the field.
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