Pressing On
Phoenix,Arz -Playing some of their best basketball of the season, the Denver Nuggets open their final road trip of the season looking to increase their Northwest Division lead and climb up the Western Conference standings.
The Nuggets, though, arrive at US Airways Center on Monday night to face a surging Phoenix Suns team that’s won eight straight home games in the series.
Oddsmakers from Online Sportsbook SPORTSBETTING.COM have made the Suns -3.5 point spread favorites for Wednesday’s game against Nuggets. Current NBA Public Betting Information shows that 52% of more than 241 bets for this game have been placed on the Nuggets +3.5.
Denver (45-25) owns a one-game lead over Portland in the division and will be going for its season-best sixth consecutive victory. J.R. Smith has been a major contributor during the streak, scoring 21.6 points per game – 7.2 more than his season average – and shooting 47.4 percent from 3-point range.
Smith scored a season-high 40 points and made three 3s in the Nuggets’ 116-105 win over Washington on Friday – the ninth time in 10 games he’s hit at least two 3-pointers.
In Denver’s two matchups with Phoenix this season, Smith is averaging 21.0 points on 40.0 percent shooting (8-of-20) from beyond the arc.
"He had a game, didn’t he?” Nuggets star Carmelo Anthony said Friday.
Anthony scored 20 points versus the Wizards but shot 6-of-16 from the field – the third time in four games he’s made 37.5 percent or worse.
Anthony scored 10 points on 3-of-13 shooting in Denver’s 108-101 loss in Phoenix on Dec. 20. He missed the Nuggets’ 119-113 overtime win over the visiting Suns on Jan. 15 with a broken bone in his right hand.
In Denver’s last victory in Phoenix – 111-96 on April 7, 2004 – Anthony had 36 points and 11 rebounds.
Nuggets forward Nene is averaging 18.5 points and 14.5 rebounds versus Phoenix this season. The Suns will also have to find a way to neutralize the low-post play of Chris Andersen, who’s averaging 6.8 points, 8.1 boards and 3.1 blocks in his last 13 games.
After snapping a six-game road losing streak with Wednesday’s 111-109 victory over Memphis, the Nuggets are confident they can make a push for the No. 2 seed in the West.
"If we go out and win two out of three, which I think we’re capable of, it puts us in a position to have an incredible season,” Denver coach George Karl said.
Phoenix (38-31) was expecting an incredible season, but a failed experiment with Terry Porter as head coach, a season-ending injury to Amare Stoudemire and six straight losses earlier this month have the Suns in danger of missing the playoffs for the first time since 2004.
Phoenix, though, defeated Washington 128-96 on Saturday and has won a season-best four in a row to keep pressure on Dallas, which holds a 3 1/2-game lead for the final playoff spot.
"It was a good win,” Phoenix coach Alvin Gentry said, "and obviously we have to win all of our games to try and keep pace.”
Shaquille O’Neal had 13 points against the Wizards and moved ahead of Moses Malone for fifth place all-time with 27,411 points.
"Mathematically, I’ve missed three years’ worth of games and I missed 5,000 free throws," said O’Neal, who’s 4,008 points behind Wilt Chamberlain for fourth place. "If I was there, I’d probably be No. 2 or No. 3 right now.”
O’Neal sat out the Jan. 15 loss to Denver in a night off, but averaged 16.3 points and 13.0 rebounds in his previous four games against the Nuggets.
Steve Nash has 13 double-doubles in his last 17 games versus Denver, averaging 18.5 points with 11.1 assists during that stretch.
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Posted: 3/23/09 1:30AM ET
