Suns @ Nuggets on Wednesday, February 3rd
By #1 Sports
The Suns (29-21) are coming off their first back to back road wins of the season with victories at Houston and New Orleans in which they – yet again – gave up huge late leads, led by PF Amar’e Stoudemire (21.0p, 8.4r) who racked 61 points and 23 boards in the pair. Veteran PG Steve Nash (18.3p, 3.2r, 11.1a) has been playing through an abdominal strain but still runs one heck of a show at 110.0 points per game (give up 107.8) for Coach Gentry. Shrugging off age and injuries, SF Grant Hill (11.4p, 5.5r, 2.2a) has surprisingly been able to keep up with the blistering pace and even has shown some hops late in recent games.
Most encouraging for Suns fans are the developments at center. First, no one saw what the Suns saw in 6′11″ 245 Channing Frye. After sinking a grand total of 20 three-pointers over his first 4 seasons with the Knicks and Blazers, Frye (12.1p, 5.7r) has nailed 117 of 268 from downtown this season! Secondly, 7′0″ 255 C Robin Lopez (6.9p, 3.7r) has been starting to play more like brother Brook over the his 6 contests with 12.0 points and 6.0 boards per game.
The Nuggets (33-15) have been positively smoking, winning 10 of their last 11 games – the last 5 of which they have played without the services of SF Carmello Anthony (29.7p, 6.5r, 3.3a) who has been sitting with a sprained ankle. ‘Mello practiced well Tuesday and is expected to get back at it tonight. While he sat, fellow stars PF Kenyon Martin (12.2p, 9.3r, 2.0a) and PG Chauncey Billups (19.4p, 3.0r, 6.2a) have more than picked up the slack.
K-Mart is healthier than he has been in years and has piled up 19.0 points and 11.8 rebounds per game over his last 4 while Mr. Big Shot is simply playing the best ball of his life with 23.7 points per game in January – the best of month of his 13-year career, has scored at least 18 in 13 consecutive games, and beefed up his assists to 8.5 per contest over the Nuggets last 6. After this game, Phoenix faces the Lakers, Jazz, Mavericks, and Spurs before the break.
FREE SELECTION: George Karl’s crew was our dark horse to win the NBA Championship this season. They don’t play hard every night, leaving gears in reserve that other crews just don’t have, but with ‘Mello down the rest of the league has caught a glimpse of this squad in the playoffs. Take the Denver Nuggets at the Pepsi Center tonight and pick up your Free Daily Selections at Freeplays.com
- The Champs at #1 Sports