The PHOENIX and the DENVER will both be gunning for a victory on 1/1/2021 at 9:00 PM when they meet in a game matchup.
PHOENIX vs DENVER
When: 1/1/2021 9:00 PM
Where:
| ROT | TEAM | PS | OU | ML |
| 539 | PHOENIX | +4.5(-110) | (-110) | +155 -175 |
| 540 | DENVER |
TV: 9:00 PM
LINE:
PREDICTION: DENVER , PHOENIX
Oddsmakers currently have the DENVER listed as point favorites versus the PHOENIX, while the game’s total is sitting at .
| Tony’s Pick | TEAM |
| PHOENIX |
The Phoenix Suns said goodbye to the year 2020 with a 106-95 win over the Utah Jazz on Thursday night in Salt Lake City. On Friday, they will try to ring in 2021 with a road win over the struggling Denver Nuggets.
The Suns have won four of their first five games of the season while working veteran Chris Paul seamlessly into the lineup. He is averaging 11.6 points and 9.2 assists and is one of six Phoenix players scoring in double figures.
More impressive than the offense is Phoenix’s defense. The Suns are holding opponents to an NBA-leading 97.8 points per game after allowing 113.4 points per game last season.
It’s encouraging, but first-year Phoenix coach Monty Williams isn’t ready to celebrate.
“It’s too early to get caught up in that, but we do like where we are,” Williams said after a win over the New Orleans Pelicans on Tuesday night. “It’s something we feel like we can hang our hats on. A number of our players have talked about it as far as our identity has to be on the defensive end.”
Phoenix faces a Denver team searching for the defensive intensity that led to two consecutive playoff appearances. The Nuggets rank 29th in the league in defensive efficiency rating and are allowing teams to make 15.3 3-pointers a game, the fourth-worst rate in the NBA.
“Twenty-ninth in the league in defense just sounds horrible,” Denver forward Paul Millsap said Thursday. “Once we make our minds up that we want to be a good defensive team, that’s when we become it.”
The Nuggets’ defense might get a boost Friday if JaMychal Green is ready to make his team debut. Green, who joined Denver as a free agent in November, has been sidelined because of a left calf strain. He practiced Thursday and was listed as questionable for the Phoenix game.
“We signed JaMychal because he is a guy that has been through the NBA wars,” coach Michael Malone said Thursday.
The Nuggets also hope Jamal Murray can give it a go Friday night. Murray struggled to start the season but found his stroke midway through a Christmas night loss to the Los Angeles Clippers, and he finished that contest with 23 points. After a 21-point effort in a win over the Houston Rockets on Monday, he sat out Denver’s Tuesday loss at Sacramento due to a bruised elbow.
Murray was listed as probable for Friday.
Denver will need everyone against a deep and confident Phoenix team, and it will need to clean up its 3-point defense. The Suns went 19 of 47 (40.4 percent) from long range against the Pelicans, then made 17 of 33 (51.5 percent) from beyond the arc at Utah.
Phoenix has snipers throughout the lineup, led by Devin Booker, who can score from all over the court.
Booker is averaging 20.2 points a game despite scoring just eight against New Orleans. Paul contributed just nine points in that win.
“If you can win a game like that and only play Book and Chris no more than 25 minutes, I think it gives the other guys confidence,” Williams said. “We know who our two best players are, and there’s no mistaking that.”
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