Suns, Nuggets look for 1st Christmas Day wins in over a decade

The Phoenix Suns have fared well on Christmas Day historically. Phoenix is 12-7 on Christmas, the league’s fifth-best record.

The Suns did not play on Christmas Day from 2010-20, but Phoenix gets its second straight in a road battle against the Denver Nuggets on Sunday.

Phoenix fell last season to the Golden State Warriors, 116-107, on Christmas Day in game that was a battle for the No. 1 seed in the West.

The Nuggets (20-11) currently hold the No. 1 seed in a tie with the Memphis Grizzlies. The Suns (19-14) sit two games back.

Suns star Devin Booker’s health is still up in the air as he has missed three games with a groin injury, missing the last six days. The team is coming off a 125-100 drubbing from the Grizzlies that Booker did not play in.

This is the Suns’ first matchup of the season against MVP-contender Nikola Jokic and the Nuggets after beating them 140-130 in Denver during the teams’ most recent matchup last season. Booker scored 49 points in that matchup.

Jokic is playing like someone certainly worthy of much consideration to win the award yet again, averaging 24.9 points per game with 10.9 rebounds and 9.3 assists.

Jamal Murray is averaging 17.8 points and 5.7 assists over the last 10 games for Denver. He is probable to play.

Denver is seeking its first Christmas win since 1994 against the Seattle SuperSonics and is 1-6 on the holiday overall, the league’s second-worst record entering this year ahead of only Toronto (0-2).

This will be the teams’ first time meeting on Christmas.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.