Suns Withstand Late Rally, Preserve 117-114 Win Over Nuggets - BullsClips's Blog

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Suns Withstand Late Rally, Preserve 117-114 Win Over Nuggets

Posted on June 3, 2011 at 07:30 PM.

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PHOENIX, Ariz. � The Suns made it 10 straight to start the season, after a thrilling 117-114 win over the visiting Denver Nuggets. Kevin Durant again carried the scoring load with 26 points, and he also posted seven rebounds and five assists.

Dirk Nowitzki put in a solid effort, finishing with 24 points, 14 of which came in the first quarter. Phoenix took a 10 point advantage into the break behind a solid effort on the offensive end.

�This was another one of those nights,� Suns head coach Alvin Gentry told reporters following the team�s tenth straight victory. �We tried to do everything we could in the second half to give this game away, specifically the fourth quarter. But, that being said, we were able to prevail and that is all that truly matters. I�m pleased to be where we are right now (10-0).�

The Suns exploded for a 17-0 run that pushed a five point lead all the way back to 22 late in the third quarter and it seemed that the Suns would coast to another victory. That wasn�t the case however, as the Nuggets, without star shooting guard Kevin Martin (out with a torn meniscus in his right knee), would not go away.

They chipped away slowly at the Phoenix lead, and cut it to single digits midway through the fourth on a Spencer Hawes three-pointer from the top of the key at 109-101. A solid offensive effort from Josh Smith (18 points and 12 rebounds) and Russell Westbrook (28 points, 10 assists and 8 rebounds) coupled with poor Phoenix shooting (7-24 in the quarter) brought the Nuggets within striking distance.

Westbrook hit a fallaway jumper with just under two minutes remaining to cut the lead to three and after a defensive stop, Smith made a putback to cut it to one with 1:17 left. One possession later, off of a turnover, Smith�s transition layup gave the Nuggets their first lead of the game at 114-113 since the early-going of the first quarter (8-7).

The Suns responded with a Durant mid-range jumper and Marcus Thornton slam dunk off of a steal with just 37 seconds left to take the lead to three at 117-114, and they held on for the win.

Phoenix travels to South Beach on Wednesday night to take on Andre Iguodala and the Miami Heat (6-4) at American Airlines Arena at 5:30 p.m. MT. Denver hosts Kyle Lowry and the New York Knicks (6-5) tomorrow night.

Nov 15, 2010 - DEN at PHX
TEAM	1ST	2ND	3RD	4TH	SCORE
Denver Nuggets (7-3)	25	26	28	35	114
Phoenix Suns (10-0)	32	31	34	20	117

Denver Nuggets
STARTERS	MIN	FGM-A	3PM-A	FTM-A	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO	PTS
Russell Westbrook	35	12-28	2-4	2-4	8	10	2	0	5	28
J.J. Redick	17	6-10	4-4	1-1	2	0	2	0	0	17
Hedo Turkoglu	33	9-27	1-5	0-0	9	4	0	0	1	19
Josh Smith	30	8-16	0-1	2-3	12	1	0	2	0	18
Spencer Hawes	32	2-7	1-3	0-0	7	1	4	1	1	5
BENCH	MIN	FGM-A	3PM-A	FTM-A	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO	PTS
Corey Maggette	22	3-6	0-2	2-2	2	1	2	1	1	8
Jeff Teague	8	3-7	0-0	2-2	1	1	0	0	1	8
Tiago Splitter	11	2-2	0-0	0-0	3	1	0	0	0	4
Leon Powe	6	0-0	0-0	0-0	2	0	0	0	0	0
Chris Andersen	6	1-1	0-0	0-0	3	0	0	0	0	2
Sherron Collins	6	2-6	1-3	0-0	0	3	0	0	2	5
Kelenna Azubuike - DNP	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
TEAM TOTALS		48-110	9-22	9-12	49	22	10	4	11	114

Phoenix Suns
STARTERS	MIN	FGM-A	3PM-A	FTM-A	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO	PTS
Mike Conley	24	5-10	1-3	1-2	8	9	2	0	4	12
Marcus Thornton	28	5-12	1-5	0-1	5	4	2	0	1	11
Kevin Durant	31	12-20	2-5	0-0	7	5	2	1	2	26
Dirk Nowitzki	31	11-22	0-0	2-4	7	3	1	1	2	24
Tyson Chandler	29	5-9	0-0	0-1	11	3	1	1	5	10
BENCH	MIN	FGM-A	3PM-A	FTM-A	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO	PTS
Nick Young	14	5-9	2-3	0-0	4	0	0	0	0	12
Kirk Hinrich	17	4-5	2-2	0-0	1	7	1	0	1	10
Omer Asik	9	1-1	0-0	0-0	1	0	1	0	3	2
Thabo Sefalosha	6	1-6	1-1	0-0	0	0	0	0	0	3
Brandon Bass	12	2-4	0-0	3-3	7	1	1	0	0	7
James Jones	3	0-0	0-0	0-0	0	1	0	0	0	0
Daniel Gibson - DNP	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
TEAM TOTALS		51-98	9-19	6-11	51	33	11	3	18	117