**ESPN:** [recap](https://www.espn.com/nba/recap/_/gameId/401469356) – [boxscore](https://www.espn.com/nba/boxscore/_/gameId/401469356) – [gamecast](https://www.espn.com/nba/game/_/gameId/401469356) | **NBA.com:** [boxscore](https://www.nba.com/game/0022201201) – [shotchart](https://www.nba.com/game/0022201201/game-charts)
||**Q1**|**Q2**|**Q3**|**Q4**|**Final**||
|:—|:–:|:–:|:–:|:–:|:–:|:–:|
**DEN**|**25**|**30**|**31**|**29**|**115**|[](/DEN)|
**PHX**|**27**|**29**|**33**|**30**|**119**|[](/PHX)|
**Team**|**FG**|**3PT**|**FT**|**OR**|**Reb**|**Ast**|**TO**|**Stl**|**Blk**|**PF**|**Pts**|
|:—|—:|—:|—:|—:|—:|—:|—:|—:|—:|—:|—:|
[](/DEN)**DEN**|**44-83 (53.0)**|**8-23 (34.8)**|**19-23 (82.6)**|**9**|**38**|**24**|**12**|**7**|**2**|**19**|**115**|
[](/PHX)**PHX**|**41-79 (51.9)**|**17-36 (47.2)**|**20-25 (80.0)**|**7**|**33**|**26**|**10**|**4**|**6**|**16**|**119**|
**[](/DEN)DEN**|**Min**|**FG**|**3PT**|**FT**|**OR**|**Reb**|**Ast**|**TO**|**Stl**|**Blk**|**PF**|**Pts**|**+/-**|
|:—|—:|—:|—:|—:|—:|—:|—:|—:|—:|—:|—:|—:|—:|
C. Braun^^SF|33:24|6-11 (54.5)|2-5 (40.0)|1-2 (50.0)|2|4|3|2|2|0|3|15|-9|
P. Watson^^PF|25:41|1-6 (16.7)|0-1 (0.0)|1-2 (50.0)|0|5|2|2|0|0|4|3|-6|
D. Jordan^^C|30:03|6-6 (100.0)|0-0 (0.0)|0-0 (0.0)|3|11|1|1|0|0|1|12|-7|
B. Brown^^SG|38:17|11-18 (61.1)|0-1 (0.0)|9-9 (100.0)|3|6|4|2|0|0|1|31|+5|
R. Jackson^^PG|30:07|7-15 (46.7)|2-5 (40.0)|4-4 (100.0)|0|3|6|2|2|0|3|20|0|
V. Cancar|20:24|1-3 (33.3)|0-2 (0.0)|0-0 (0.0)|0|3|0|0|2|2|2|2|-2|
Z. Nnaji|17:04|3-5 (60.0)|1-2 (50.0)|0-0 (0.0)|1|2|1|2|0|0|4|7|0|
J. Green|22:19|4-7 (57.1)|3-6 (50.0)|3-4 (75.0)|0|1|1|0|0|0|0|14|+2|
I. Smith|22:41|5-12 (41.7)|0-1 (0.0)|1-2 (50.0)|0|3|6|1|1|0|1|11|-3|
**Totals**||**44-83 (53.0)**|**8-23 (34.8)**|**19-23 (82.6)**|**9**|**38**|**24**|**12**|**7**|**2**|**19**|**115**||
**DNP:** ***Thomas Bryant***, ***Jack White***
**Inactive:** ***Kentavious Caldwell-Pope***, ***Collin Gillespie***, ***Aaron Gordon***, ***Nikola Jokic***, ***Jamal Murray***, ***Michael Porter Jr.***
**[](/PHX)PHX**|**Min**|**FG**|**3PT**|**FT**|**OR**|**Reb**|**Ast**|**TO**|**Stl**|**Blk**|**PF**|**Pts**|**+/-**|
|:—|—:|—:|—:|—:|—:|—:|—:|—:|—:|—:|—:|—:|—:|
J. Okogie^^SF|21:49|1-4 (25.0)|0-2 (0.0)|3-6 (50.0)|1|3|2|1|2|1|1|5|+3|
K. Durant^^PF|40:38|9-18 (50.0)|6-10 (60.0)|5-7 (71.4)|0|7|4|4|0|1|0|29|-3|
D. Ayton^^C|31:48|7-9 (77.8)|0-0 (0.0)|2-2 (100.0)|2|5|2|1|0|2|4|16|+3|
D. Booker^^SG|37:28|3-12 (25.0)|1-5 (20.0)|8-8 (100.0)|0|1|8|2|0|0|3|15|+10|
C. Paul^^PG|37:08|9-15 (60.0)|7-12 (58.3)|0-0 (0.0)|1|6|2|1|1|1|0|25|-8|
C. Payne|7:22|1-2 (50.0)|0-1 (0.0)|0-0 (0.0)|0|1|3|0|1|0|2|2|+3|
T. Craig|22:04|5-8 (62.5)|1-2 (50.0)|0-0 (0.0)|0|3|2|0|0|1|3|11|+8|
B. Biyombo|11:03|1-3 (33.3)|0-0 (0.0)|2-2 (100.0)|2|3|0|1|0|0|1|4|0|
L. Shamet|7:09|1-3 (33.3)|0-1 (0.0)|0-0 (0.0)|0|0|2|0|0|0|0|2|+7|
T. Ross|15:02|3-4 (75.0)|2-3 (66.7)|0-0 (0.0)|0|3|0|0|0|0|0|8|-2|
J. Landale|5:09|1-1 (100.0)|0-0 (0.0)|0-0 (0.0)|1|1|1|0|0|0|0|2|+1|
I. Wainright|3:20|0-0 (0.0)|0-0 (0.0)|0-0 (0.0)|0|0|0|0|0|0|2|0|-2|
**Totals**||**41-79 (51.9)**|**17-36 (47.2)**|**20-25 (80.0)**|**7**|**33**|**26**|**10**|**4**|**6**|**16**|**119**||
**DNP:** ***Darius Bazley***, ***Damion Lee***, ***Saben Lee***
**Inactive:** ***T.J. Warren***
||**PITP**|**2^^nd PTS**|**FB PTS**|**BIG LD**|**BEN PTS**|**TOT TOV**|**TOV PTS**||
|:—|:–:|:–:|:–:|:–:|:–:|:–:|:–:|:–:|
**DEN**|66|14|15|6|34|13|22|[](/DEN)|
**PHX**|32|14|5|9|29|10|17|[](/PHX)|
**Lead Changes: 23** | **Times Tied: 14** | **Gametime: 2:12** | **Attendance: 17071**
*Officials: Kevin Scott, Mitchell Ervin, Ray Acosta*
by BigHoneyBot
34 Comments
awesome game!
Took a stroll down the game thread on the suns page wow they are in another world over there. Proud of our boys tonight played great.
Perfectly happy. One of our best offensive games of the season considering who was playing
Ref ball decided that in the last 4 minutes. Love that the bench put up a solid game
Lol it took +1 PTS from the line (+2 attempts, -34 PTS in the Paint), +27 PTS from 3 on 47.6%, and a career high from Chris Paul from 3 to beat the Nuggets with no starters.
Entering tonight, Memphis was the #1 team in the NBA in PTS in the Paint per 100 possessions at [57.2 PTS](https://go.nba.com/6rb1f). Also entering tonight in the 3 games vs the Suns, Denver averaged [57.6 PTS in the Paint](https://www.nba.com/stats/teams/misc?OpponentTeamID=1610612756&PerMode=Per100Possessions&TeamID=1610612743&dir=A&sort=PTS_PAINT&DateTo=4%2F5%2F2023) per 100.
They just scored 66 in the paint tonight – ballooning that number to a cartoonish [60.2 PTS in the Paint per 100 vs PHX on the season](https://go.nba.com/q1egr). Good thing Denver isn’t the #1 rim scoring team in the NBA per 100 and the #2 paint scoring team, the #2 rim FG% team and #1 Paint FG% team all season long or anything.
PHX is phuqt.
Call me crazy but I hate suns fans more than 76ers fans tbh
Clippers smoking the buns in the first round lmao
Hell of a game by the bench unit tonight. Suns looked soft af. CP3 played a good game but you can tell it’s tough for him playing extended minutes. I’m honestly more scared of the Lakers than phx rn in the playoffs.
Can’t wait for “the starters didn’t even try” excuse. That team ain’t going to the finals
Loved seeing the growth from the bench this game while the starters can heal up. They kept it close and fun which is all you can ask for in meaningless games.
A few more quasi-scrimmages then we get to see this rested (hopefully not rusted!) team play games we’ve all been waiting for since the season started.
Go Nahgets!
Is Bryant hurt? Figure he’d get some minutes tonight
I’m so happy that my boi Bruce Brown got a 30pt gane in his career. He has been balling!
Sports betting is the worst thing to happen to sports. As if reffing wasn’t already bad enough before it became mainstream.
Good confidence boosting game for the bench. Reggie needed a good one for sure. Good fight in this team
Solid performance overall for the Nuggets B and C squad. Refs are just normal people with mortgages to pay and online bets to cover.
Still think it was very winnable so that stings just slightly but overall super proud of our bench! All it took was CP3 going nuclear in the hospice era of his career
KD is yet to have a + game against the Nuggets and he played their bench lol. He’s -1 and -3 also needed to play 40 minutes to get the W. Encouraging sign heading to the playoffs.
Insane that some people are upset after tonight. Guys played their hearts out against a fully healthy PHX, more reps for us to keep working on our second unit, and the starters are just getting healthier. All in all a great night.
Suns really scored 34 less points in the paint and got more free throws. Refs don’t decide games, but they sure do influence them
BB > KD
Is Charles Barkley broken?
That foul on the Nnaji screen was sus.
PWat didn’t seem to touch Durant on that jumper either.
It all kind of descended from there.
I want to see Braun on Booker as much as possible in a Phoenix series. Booker did not seem to want much of that tonight.
I want this bench group to look at this game and think, “Man…we really have no excuse to be giving up leads to other teams’ benches.” I really hope they take this as a point of pride and start putting the damn pedal down when the starters build a lead.
So it all came down to 3PT defense. The Nuggets actually did pretty well, otherwise.
Reggie looked good tonight imo
The amount of coping on r/nba is palpable. Cannot wait for the playoffs
Um, we just gave the Suns a run for their money whilst hopping on one foot with one hand tied behind our back… and the analysts think that this would be a good post season battle if we meet in the 2nd round? Like, really? Get off CP3’s nutz! The Suns are our sons, and we’ll put those little SOB’s to bed.
Go Nuggets, and goodnight.
Showed some gosh darn heart tonight! Best loss of the season!
The way they’re playing them I have a strong feeling KD or CP3 is going to get hurt in the first round. I get it’s necessary to get reps with them, but if they were “actually trying” the whole game maybe they could’ve sat them for the 4th. Playing the 40 minutes a night in meaningless games is asking for disaster.
Is the playoffs bench almost confirmed?
Green
Watson
Braun
Brown
Murray
I do love that we lost by 4pts but none of our starters played one minute. In other words our bench / third unit kept it within four with the Suns starters
I remember where I was when Bruce Brown outscored KD, do YOU?
Could’ve been cool opportunity for Pwat to play through his struggles in the fourth and gain exp in a tight road game against a likely playoff opponent.
Uncle was good but the actual ‘cut the crap, we’re trying to win this’ move would’ve been Zeke for DJ