**ESPN:** [recap](https://www.espn.com/nba/recap/_/gameId/401469315) – [boxscore](https://www.espn.com/nba/boxscore/_/gameId/401469315) – [gamecast](https://www.espn.com/nba/game/_/gameId/401469315) | **NBA.com:** [boxscore](https://www.nba.com/game/0022201160) – [shotchart](https://www.nba.com/game/0022201160/game-charts)
||**Q1**|**Q2**|**Q3**|**Q4**|**Final**||
|:—|:–:|:–:|:–:|:–:|:–:|:–:|
**DEN**|**20**|**20**|**34**|**19**|**93**|[](/DEN)|
**PHX**|**32**|**28**|**24**|**16**|**100**|[](/PHX)|
**Team**|**FG**|**3PT**|**FT**|**OR**|**Reb**|**Ast**|**TO**|**Stl**|**Blk**|**PF**|**Pts**|
|:—|—:|—:|—:|—:|—:|—:|—:|—:|—:|—:|—:|
[](/DEN)**DEN**|**38-95 (40.0)**|**6-26 (23.1)**|**11-20 (55.0)**|**15**|**51**|**19**|**11**|**11**|**5**|**16**|**93**|
[](/PHX)**PHX**|**37-88 (42.0)**|**10-27 (37.0)**|**16-21 (76.2)**|**13**|**50**|**28**|**16**|**8**|**7**|**16**|**100**|
**[](/DEN)DEN**|**Min**|**FG**|**3PT**|**FT**|**OR**|**Reb**|**Ast**|**TO**|**Stl**|**Blk**|**PF**|**Pts**|**+/-**|
|:—|—:|—:|—:|—:|—:|—:|—:|—:|—:|—:|—:|—:|—:|
C. Braun^^SF|29:22|4-6 (66.7)|1-2 (50.0)|2-3 (66.7)|1|5|1|0|1|0|2|11|-6|
A. Gordon^^PF|36:25|10-23 (43.5)|2-4 (50.0)|4-10 (40.0)|5|9|6|2|2|1|0|26|-3|
D. Jordan^^C|21:22|2-5 (40.0)|0-0 (0.0)|1-3 (33.3)|2|12|0|1|3|1|2|5|-8|
B. Brown^^SG|37:08|7-18 (38.9)|0-2 (0.0)|2-2 (100.0)|2|4|3|0|3|0|3|16|-11|
R. Jackson^^PG|34:23|6-14 (42.9)|1-9 (11.1)|0-0 (0.0)|1|2|4|3|1|0|1|13|-2|
V. Cancar|16:24|2-5 (40.0)|0-2 (0.0)|2-2 (100.0)|1|4|0|1|0|0|3|6|-3|
Z. Nnaji|23:13|4-8 (50.0)|1-3 (33.3)|0-0 (0.0)|3|5|0|1|1|0|3|9|-2|
P. Watson|26:44|2-6 (33.3)|1-2 (50.0)|0-0 (0.0)|0|7|1|1|0|2|1|5|+5|
I. Smith|14:59|1-10 (10.0)|0-2 (0.0)|0-0 (0.0)|0|3|4|2|0|1|1|2|-5|
**Totals**||**38-95 (40.0)**|**6-26 (23.1)**|**11-20 (55.0)**|**15**|**51**|**19**|**11**|**11**|**5**|**16**|**93**||
**DNP:** ***Thomas Bryant***, ***Jeff Green***, ***Jack White***
**Inactive:** ***Kentavious Caldwell-Pope***, ***Collin Gillespie***, ***Nikola Jokic***, ***Jamal Murray***, ***Michael Porter Jr.***
**[](/PHX)PHX**|**Min**|**FG**|**3PT**|**FT**|**OR**|**Reb**|**Ast**|**TO**|**Stl**|**Blk**|**PF**|**Pts**|**+/-**|
|:—|—:|—:|—:|—:|—:|—:|—:|—:|—:|—:|—:|—:|—:|
J. Okogie^^SF|28:43|5-8 (62.5)|4-5 (80.0)|0-0 (0.0)|2|5|0|1|1|0|2|14|+3|
K. Durant^^PF|33:11|11-15 (73.3)|2-3 (66.7)|6-7 (85.7)|0|4|2|3|1|2|0|30|-1|
D. Ayton^^C|28:18|4-11 (36.4)|0-0 (0.0)|0-2 (0.0)|1|10|1|2|1|0|5|8|+28|
D. Booker^^SG|35:04|9-20 (45.0)|2-9 (22.2)|7-8 (87.5)|0|2|6|4|1|0|2|27|+13|
C. Paul^^PG|33:14|2-9 (22.2)|1-4 (25.0)|0-0 (0.0)|0|6|13|5|1|0|3|5|+9|
T. Craig|15:30|1-3 (33.3)|1-1 (100.0)|0-0 (0.0)|1|6|0|0|0|1|1|3|+3|
T. Warren|16:23|2-6 (33.3)|0-1 (0.0)|0-0 (0.0)|3|6|3|1|2|1|1|4|+7|
C. Payne|14:46|0-5 (0.0)|0-1 (0.0)|0-0 (0.0)|0|2|0|0|0|0|1|0|-2|
B. Biyombo|19:42|3-8 (37.5)|0-0 (0.0)|3-4 (75.0)|6|7|1|0|0|3|1|9|-21|
T. Ross|15:09|0-3 (0.0)|0-3 (0.0)|0-0 (0.0)|0|2|2|0|1|0|0|0|-4|
**Totals**||**37-88 (42.0)**|**10-27 (37.0)**|**16-21 (76.2)**|**13**|**50**|**28**|**16**|**8**|**7**|**16**|**100**||
**DNP:** ***Darius Bazley***, ***Jock Landale***, ***Damion Lee***, ***Landry Shamet***, ***Ish Wainright***
**Inactive:** ***Saben Lee***
||**PITP**|**2^^nd PTS**|**FB PTS**|**BIG LD**|**BEN PTS**|**TOT TOV**|**TOV PTS**||
|:—|:–:|:–:|:–:|:–:|:–:|:–:|:–:|:–:|
**DEN**|62|19|22|2|22|11|13|[](/DEN)|
**PHX**|36|9|10|27|16|16|8|[](/PHX)|
**Lead Changes: 3** | **Times Tied: 4** | **Gametime: 2:08** | **Attendance: 17071**
*Officials: Courtney Kirkland, Nick Buchert, Brandon Adair*
by BigHoneyBot
32 Comments
That was surprisingly pleasant lol.
Great confidence booster for the bench squad heading into the playoffs. Might be an L but they closed a huge deficit against the Suns starters.
I am so excited for Pwatt
How tf do the fully healthy “championship favorites” barely get to triple digits against our bench of the bench lmao
finally a feel good loss
My main takeaway is that the young guys on the roster deserve the full buy in from coaching and front office . A 2nd unit with Pwatt , CB and zeke + vlatko is a point guard away from solving all our problems more or less.
The front office needs to get rid of all the veterans in the offseason so those guys can develop.
Solid game from the backups. Not a sure how you forget about Christian Braun at the end there though. I love Zeke. Reggie Jackson can’t space the floor at all. Atrocious shooting. Aaron Gordon is the man but his free throw shooting might cost us in the playoffs. I think Peyton Watson is gonna be a serious contributor in the future.
Great fucking game tbh. So encouraging after last night’s stink fest. Playoff energy out there. LFG nuggets!
Suns expected a blowout win but got hit with a reality check. Almost losing to our bench. Bench needs to keep their heads high. Makes me believe in our guys even more.
Also guess we now know why Vlatko don’t play anymore lol
Gordon needs to make free throws
I’m glad I was free for this game and not yesterday’s game
Feel bad for Bryant though… DNP in a throwaway development game
I fucking hate NBA refs. They can all get fucked.(except bill Kennedy, he’s cool). I’m not saying we didn’t have some
Bad turnovers and take some bad shots. *cough* ish smith *cough*. But for gods sake we got absolutely fucked. Chris Paul can basically ear rape the official because he’s a scared little bitch who doesn’t wanna t him up but Bruce Brown dares to speak out of turn and we gotta t him up. Also I guess you’re alllowed to just camp inside the pain for ten seconds? Because that last foul call was goddamn atrocious. Great game though! I think if Ish Smith and the refs don’t bail them out we take this one!
Also our defensive rating will improve from this 😎
I whole heartedly believe we win the game if ish Smith doesn’t try to go super saiyan
Proud of our bench and feeling more confident heading into the playoffs 💪🏻
Man I really missed the most fun parts of that game dealing with a fish tank leaking, I am distraught.
Sheesh 23% from 3? Yikes! Speaks to our effort though to keep it so close… man 30% from 3 or 80% from the line and we win going away.
Love love love the effort mid 3rd and beyond.
Great game, CB to close might have changed the outcome though.
Nuggets will beat the Warriors at home next game and they will win in Houston.
Now my bold prediction. The Bulls will beat the Grizzlies in their next game.
This is clinched on the 4th of April.
I love Peyton Watson. He’ll be in the rotation next year for sure
Is it too soon to want PWat permanently in the bench rotation?
That one possession where Braun guarded Durant and made him hit the side of the backboard made me nut
Couldn’t watch tonight, what’s the rundown? Doesn’t look that bad considering who was available
They played so much better tonight. Couldn’t have asked for more against the healthy Suns on segababa. Did you see that +/-? They held KD to -1 and Peyton was +5! Future is bright!
Hope Reggie can start making those 3’s.Tbh I think he needs to get those misses out of his system.
8:30 game time Sunday. Thank midichlorians
Damn I’m excited for the Nuggets vs Suns WCF. The team must be licking their chops.
Excellent defense from the young fellas tonight. Braun, zeke, and Watson make a great defensive backcourt.
Honestly not bad for the bench/3rd string vs the suns starters.
All the in rotation guys played well (AG Brown Braun Nnaji) it was mainly Reggie and Ish that killed us if they would’ve hit just a couple shots we could’ve stole it. Credit to Watson and DJ they both rebounded and defended well
I’m all in on the PWat hype train
This is the best I’ve ever felt after a loss in Nuggets history. Truly
if we could make our fts we win this game. also if we played bryant it might’ve been different too, Jordan was obviously gassed by the end of the first half.
future is bright with braun, zeke and pwat.