Arron Afflalo, Andre Miller shine as Denver Nuggets out gun Phoenix Suns – NBA Recap
On Friday night here at Pepsi Center, veteran Andre Miller carried Denver Nuggets on his back by scoring 13 0f his 15 points in the decisive frame to bank a 105-99 victory over Phoenix Suns.
Arron Afflalo tallied a match high 30 points for Nuggets while Al-Harrington collected 23 coming off the bench. Reserve Miller had 15 points to go with 7 assists and forward Kenneth Faried along with Jordan Hamilton scored 12 and 11 points respectively in
Denver’s 30th win of this season.
Denver rookie Kenneth Faried was all praise for Miller.
“It was amazing to see a guy like him just step up and put this team on his back."
Nuggets proved to be strong contenders for the post season as they allowed only 5 turnovers and forced Suns to commit 16. They are currently on the 7th playoff spot in the Western conference. Miller is all focused on the playoffs and his performance
in this match is a testament of his devotion.
"It's big," Miller said. "I don't know if the young guys know about positioning for the playoffs, but you want to position yourselves to get a decent matchup in the first round. At this point we can't even worry about that, it's so tight. We've just got
to figure out how to stay in the race."
Suns dropped to 10th place in the same conference and their chances for the playoffs are getting bleak.
Shannon Brown tallied a team high 18 points to go with 6 boards while Jared Dudley poured in 17. Reserve Michael Redd chipped in with 15 and talisman Steve Nash recorded a double-double with 14 points and 11 assists. Channing Frye also had a double-double
with 13 points and 11 boards in Phoenix 27th defeat of this season.
After a slow start Suns managed to take a 13-9 lead midway through the opening frame, with a 10-6 run Nuggets tied the scores at 19 each. Phoenix rebutted that with a 10-2 burst and capped of the frame after claiming a 29-21 advantage.
Nuggets came back strong in the 2nd stanza as they clawed off the lead with a 16-6 sprint and claimed a 37-35 advantage, with another 10-4 burst they ballooned their advantage to 47-39. Suns refused to go down like this and Nash netted a long
ranger that resulted into a huge 13-3 burst, slacking off the lead they put themselves ahead of the Nuggets with a 52-50 lead. Hamilton Jumper at the end of 1st half pushed the game into stalemate 52apiece.
Nuggets opened the 3rd with a16-6 run to claim a double digit 68-58 lead. Suns tied the scores at 73 each with a 15-5burst deep through the frame. Nash netted a pair from foul line to push Suns ahead with 75-73 but Harrington capped off the segment
after scoring 5 consecutive points. Game entered into its last 12 minutes with Nuggets leading the scores 78-75.
After some seesaw action with 05:08 to expire Suns managed to take a 97-92 lead but Denver harnessed that with a 13-2 run and sealed the matter, taking a 105-99 victory.
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