Phoenix Suns vs Denver Nuggets Christmas Day game highlights
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Suns vs Nuggets
The game between the Phoenix Suns and the Denver Nuggets was perhaps the best game on Christmas Day. The fans in the arena were as wild and nobody could better sum it up than the man himself, Richard Jefferson. With a loose ball in the 4th quarter, when the Nuggets players tried to grab the ball, Richard remarked, “50 thousand Nuggets hands tried to grab the ball.”
Unexpectedly, the league perhaps saved the best for last. On the night of the stars, the brown dwarfs also set the arena on fire and shone the brightest. Eric Gordon was having one of his classic nights as he made 7 massive dunks, Nikola Jokic had a historical Christmas Game night, and Jamal Murry looked like his complete self after his ACL injury.
The game was everything Denver and NBA fans wanted. The Suns were hit early by an adversary when Devin Booker reaggravated his groin injury within 5 minutes of the 1st quarter. Booker left for the locker room with over 7 minutes left on the clock, he never returned to the game.
1st quarter
Nikola Jokić opened the Nuggets’ scoring with an 18-footer over DeAndre Ayton. Devin Booker answered with fancy footwork, and Nicola Joe kids with a floater. Jokic again hit a long three-point shot to make the game 5-2 for the Nuggets. with 9:09 minutes remaining on the clock. Jamal Murray threw a lob to Gordon for a reverse dunk to make it 2-13 for the Nuggets.
The Suns made their second shot only in the 3rd minute of the quarter when Torry Craig made a 27-footer three-pointer off of Chris Paul’s assist to cut the lead to 8 from 11. The Nuggets continued their scoring as they extended their lead to 13 points within 8 minutes of the game before Paul hit a jumper to cut the lead to 11. Mikail Bridges scored 8 points in the last 2 minutes to cut the lead to 24-28 at the end of the 1st quarter.
2nd quarter
Damian Lee gave the Suns their first lead of the game with his three-pointer to make it 29-28 in the 2nd quarter. He soon hit another 3-point shot to extend the lead to 4 points making it 32-28 for the Suns.
After taking a lead at this point of the quarter, the Suns never lost the lead in the 2nd quarter. But the hero of the 2nd quarter was Andrew Shamet, who scored 15 points in the quarter and helped Phoenix crawl back into the game.
3rd quarter
Entering into the 3rd quarter, Phoenix led by as many as 6 points, however, they caught fire early in the third. The Nuggets did not score for almost 2 minutes in the quarter before Jokic made a two-point shot to make it 62-53. Torry Craig again hit a 3-point shot with 10:33 remaining on the clock to extend the Suns’ lead up to 12.
Aron Gordon and DeAndre Ayton exchanged buckets in the 5th minute of the quarter and the Suns’ lead was back to 12. However, with back to back buckets from Jokic and Jamal Murry in the last 2 minutes of the quarter helped Denver to cut the lead to 3 at the end of the quarter.
4th quarter
Murry played the 4th quarter with a purpose as he hit a crucial 3-pointer with 30 seconds of the 4th quarter to even the score. However, back-to-back three buckets from Josh Okogie, Landry Shamet, and Bismack and Biyombo helped the Suns put their lead back to 7 with a 91-87 score.
With 5 minutes remaining in the quarter, the Suns had a lead of as much as 8, but back-to-back buckets from Joker, Murray, and Gordon cut the lead to 1 again. Michael Porter Jr. made the game even with two of one free throw, but Shamet hit them again to give the Suns another 3-point lead.
But Jokic made a tip shot and made it a 1-point game, after Murray missed his shot, the Nuggets fouled Ayton, who made only 1 of 2 free throws. The lead was only 2 for the Suns, and just then, after the timeout, Jamal Murray made a driving dunk shot to even the game. After Bridges made an offensive foul, he came back to block Jamal Murray and force the game into overtime.
Overtime
Ayton made a 14-footer to give Phoenix a 2-point lead early in the overtime, but KCP answered with a jumper to even the game. With 3 consecutive buckets from Gordon and Jokic, the score was 115-121 with Nuggets leading by 6. Shamet scored again with a 3-point shot and KCP answered with another 3-pointer to bring back the 6-point lead.
Shamet was not done as he hit with another 3-point dagger with cut back the lead to three. Ayton made a 2-pointer to cut the lead to 1 point with 1 minute remaining on the clock. Aron Gordon made a statement dunk over Shamet, that perhaps was best explained by the commentator. She said, “He took out the ghost of past present, and future on that one.”
Through CP3 cut the lead to 2 points with a jumper, Jamal Murry was fouled with 11 seconds remaining on the clock. He made one of two shots to give the Nuggets a 3-point lead. The Nuggets won the game 125-128.
As two of the top teams in the Western Conference looked horns, it sure was the best Christmas Day game of the season. Jefferson concluded the game with “best dunking display that we have seen on Christmas Day.” Nikola Jokic put up historic numbers, he ended up with 41 points, 15 rebounds, and 15 assists.
Also Read: Why does Patrick Beverley hate Chris Paul: A timeline of their strained relationship
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Nandjee Ranjan
(488 Articles Published)