NBA: Suns end skid with road win against Nuggets

The Phoenix Suns got an elusive road win and put themselves back in the playoff conversation.

Guard Brandon Knight had 19 points, guard Eric Bledsoe scored 18 and the Phoenix Suns beat the Denver Nuggets 110-96 on Wednesday night.

Forward Gerald Green had 15 points off the bench for the Suns, who ended a five-game losing streak. Phoenix won on the road for the first time in seven weeks.

Phoenix (30-28) kept its fading playoff hopes alive with its first win since before the All-Star break. The Suns trail Oklahoma City by two-and-a-half games for the eighth spot in the Western Conference and can get closer when they host the Thunder on Thursday night.

"We got the monkey off our back," Bledsoe said of ending the road losing streak. "Oklahoma City is playing well right now but there's no telling what could happen."

Forward Will Barton scored a season-high 22 points and forward Danilo Gallinari had 20 points for the Nuggets. Denver has lost eight straight at home and 17 of 19 overall.

The home losing streak is the longest since 1998 and the third longest in team history.

"What starts to happen is guys start looking forward to playing on the road because the home crowd starts to get antsy," Nuggets coach Brian Shaw said. "Things don't go well and they start to get on us, especially if it seems like we're not hustling and coming up with the loose balls."

The Nuggets, who haven't won at home since Jan. 14, were already shorthanded when forward Darrell Arthur suffered a knee injury just 3:01 into the game. Things got worse when rookie center Jusuf Nurkic got tangled up on the defense end and suffered a right lateral ankle sprain with 9:29 left in the game. He was helped off the court and then wheeled to the locker room in obvious pain.

Shaw said X-rays were negative.

Nurkic's ankle was noticeably swollen in the locker room as he sat with his head in his hands

"He wouldn't let anyone touch him when he was on the court," Shaw said. "He hasn't ever really been hurt before so for that to happen would be pretty scary for him."

The injuries took their toll, especially on the glass. Phoenix outrebounded Denver 65-40, the Suns' high rebounding total of the season despite the fact that center Alex Len, with 10 rebounds, was the only Phoenix player in double digits.

"Our guys went after it tonight," Suns coach Jeff Hornacek said. "We played with a little more desperation than what we have been playing with."

The Suns built a nine-point lead in the first half, saw Denver cut it to 67-66 on Nurkic's layup with seven minutes left in the third and then went on a 12-0 run to take an 83-69 lead late in the quarter.

Gallinari tried to keep the Nuggets in it with another strong offensive game but the lack of offense from leading scorer, guard Ty Lawson, doomed Denver to another home loss.

"We lost because we allowed a lot of offensive rebounds," Gallinari said. "They had 23 offensive rebounds and it's hard to win a game if you let that happen."

The Nuggets were within 10 at the start of the fourth but Phoenix built a 15-point lead early in the period.

Consecutive 3-pointers by Gallinari and Lawson and two free throws from forward Joffrey Lauvergne got Denver within 91-85 with 7:17 remaining. Knight hit two straight 3-pointers as Phoenix responded with a 10-2 run to push the lead back to 14 with 4:49 left.

"Those were some big shots that went in for us that pushed the lead back up," Knight said. "But we got stops and that compounded it."

Knight had his best game since being acquired from Milwaukee last week.

"He's been doing that all season long," Bledsoe said. - Reuters