Suns find ‘building block’ in loss to Nuggets

PHOENIX — Friday night was a step forward for both the Phoenix Suns and Denver Nuggets, but Denver took the bigger one in a 127-120 Suns loss.

Denver (3-2) arrived in Phoenix (1-3) with a similar vibe of its opposition.

The Nuggets’ two wins came against the lowly New Orleans Pelicans, one of which required a Pelicans meltdown to force an overtime period Denver ultimately snatched up. In an expanded version of the Suns faring poorly on defense, where their identity is located, a Nuggets franchise that has finished top-5 in offensive efficiency for the last four years entered the night 25th.

This not only offered an opportunity for the Suns to face a great opponent not in rhythm yet, but also had both squads in need of a “get-right game.”

The Nuggets got it for their offense, all while the Suns’ defense failed to click together again, even though their offense and energy improved compared to the first three games of the season.

Suns head coach Jordan Ott nailed it afterward. The Suns’ blend of energy and intensity was there in large spurts, saying “at times it felt like us,” a new development this year. It’s just the execution that fell short.

“I thought that effort and energy was what we were missing the last couple of games,” Oso Ighodaro said. “That’s what gets us in the door, gets us in these games (and) that’s what gave us success last year. … I think we can build on that and just a good reminder that it’s a nonnegotiable for us to play that hard. (If) we do that and clean up the simple mistakes (we’re going to win games).”

“It felt like more of us, the identity built last year. … It’s something to build on,” Devin Booker added.

Ott before the game referred to Denver’s off-ball movement as the standard on offense. It forces teams to be on their A-game when it comes to communication for switching and being linked together in the team sense of “defending on a string.” It’s not about individual defense. There is no way to defend the Nuggets well unless you can cover for your teammates, something the Suns have had some problems with to begin the year.

The Nuggets got a handful of baskets off Phoenix either being a step late to an off-ball rotation or getting in a mixup that resulted in an open shot either at the rim or from deep.

There were also a dozen or so instances where the Suns’ aggressive switching scheme and double-teaming of Nikola Jokic forced them into a situation where there was one lone help defender covering two Nuggets players on the perimeter. This is not all too uncommon, but just requires precise execution in order for the defense to properly rotate. The Suns aren’t there yet, so Denver found a lot of open 3s off it. That included two on the strong side for Jamal Murray one pass away. Can’t happen, and Ott was frustrated with them afterward.

This was a mix of an elite offense rounding into shape and a great defensive team going through some growing pains.

Denver in the first three quarters scored 32, 39 and 32 points. While the Nuggets were prone to their own mistakes, they kept things humming to counterbalance it. To be fair, so did the Suns with 67 first-half points, before some slippage in the third quarter let Denver lead by as many as 13 and by 10 entering the fourth quarter.

The Suns couldn’t find enough offensive execution or defensive stops in the second half.

With two-and-a-half minutes to go and Denver up eight, Jokic isolated Collin Gillespie at the foul line. Phoenix looked unsure whether or not to commit to a double-team, and as they paused, Booker was stuck watching as his man in the corner, Christian Braun, drilled his seventh 3-pointer of the night. Braun had knocked down six in the first half alone, already setting his career high for a game.

The Nuggets shot 20 of 38 (53%) from deep, and while some of those 3s by Braun after the first few went down shouldn’t have been as wide-open as they were, he has been a very poor shooter since the start of last season. Both the team and Braun’s shooting were unfortunate outcomes. A free-throw edge of 23-10 in makes and 30-11 in attempts was the difference for Denver.

The Suns’ league-worst defensive rating of 134 coming into the game only dropped slightly, down to just 131.9 on Cleaning the Glass. The gap between them and the team in 29th (Chicago) is nine points.

Ighodaro returned from a two-game absence but remained in a bench role due to limited minutes. He was excellent in 21 minutes, reaching five assists in his first shift of seven minutes. He and the second unit, especially Ryan Dunn as a small-ball 5 filling in for Ighodaro, got the ball and player movement churning in a way it hasn’t all year.

“I can’t wait to play with him,” Ighodaro said of Dunn. “He can do all of that stuff from the 4 too. … I’m excited for what that second unit has.”

Collin Gillespie was the star of that unit as usual with 16 points, three rebounds, 10 assists, four steals and a block in 33 minutes. Jordan Goodwin added 11 points, five rebounds and five assists in 25 minutes.

Miles Bridges had 24 points and 10 rebounds on 10 of 19 shooting. He had his best night of the season with the ball finding him in proper spots to attack the basket.

Ott and Booker agreed the first half was the best the player and ball movement has been all season. While Booker said they don’t do moral victories, he also called that offensive portion of the game a “building block,” and the Suns coming away with one of those after how the first week had gone was something.

At the 8:05 mark of the third quarter, with Dillon Brooks up to 22 points on 9 of 12 shooting, he isolated his fellow Canadian Murray on the baseline. As Brooks spun away to rise up for a fadeaway jumper, he kicked his right leg up directly between the two of Murray, and hit him low.

Status alert: Dillon Brooks has been ejected Friday after being assessed a Flagrant 2 foul.

https://t.co/83wU9AMKxo

— Underdog NBA (@UnderdogNBA) October 31, 2026

A review deemed it a Flagrant 2, and Brooks was ejected. Murray said afterward he did not think it was on purpose, and Bridges thought the only reason Brooks got ejected was because of Brooks’ reputation.

Murray matched Braun’s 7-for-9 mark on 3s, with almost all of them coming in rhythm and enough room to shoot. He ended up at a game-high 39 points on 10 of 18 shooting.

Booker never found his full flow all game. He shot 7 of 19 for 20 points with five assists, four turnovers and two steals. It was one of those nights where a signature wave of his scoring or playmaking for even a spurt would have done wonders, but it was just bits and pieces throughout the night. A positive development was his off-ball usage going up a bit, as Phoenix found him in more of those actions unlike his three-point outing.

Jalen Green got lost in the shuffle in this one and had a rough go. He played only 25 minutes and shot 1-for-6 with two points, two rebounds, two assists and two turnovers.

Green began the game with two bad decisions on drives and will have a few of those each game, but he overall continues to touch the paint on offense and defend with real purpose, the two largest asks of him. It’s a strange point for his Phoenix tenure to arrive at, because a lot of it to begin with for Green was being productive through a worse process. Now, the process is much better. The results portion, however, is a work in progress.

Phoenix has a tough decision between trusting Green’s buy-in and believing the growth on decision-making will come while the mistakes keep coming, or cutting his playing time after the player tried his best to improve in the ways he has been asked to.

Next up for Phoenix is a rematch with the Golden State Warriors on Monday in California, and yet again, fortune is in its favor. Like that victory, the Warriors will be playing their third game in four days. This had them sit six of their seven best players. Perhaps they repeat that rest strategy, or will flip it and sit those key names in the first game of the back-to-back instead of the second.

This was the beginning of NBA Cup play. Phoenix is in Group A alongside Denver, Houston, Dallas and Utah. It’s a particularly tough draw, because the Mavericks and Jazz project to be much improved than their standing from last year that had them filtered into this group. Each team plays its fellow group-mate once. The three group winners and one wild card team from each conference advance to the knockout stage. The Suns’ next NBA Cup fixture is on Nov. 20 in Utah.

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