LATEST NEWS: A Denver Nuggets player will miss their Christmas Day game due to….
The Denver Nuggets had the reigning MVP last year, but they were left off the NBA’s Christmas Day schedule, which some saw as a snub.
The NBA couldn’t overlook Nikola Jokic earning MVP for the second year in a row, so Denver is leading the daylong slate of Sunday games. The Nuggets will host the Phoenix Suns in the late game, but they will be without several players.
Forward Jeff Green had a sprained left finger and a hand fracture in Friday’s game and will be out for at least four weeks, ruling him out of the primetime Christmas battle.
“I enjoy watching TV games. “Don’t ever turn it down, but I’m not too concerned about it,” Jamal Murray remarked. “Either I’m playing on Christmas or I’m spending a day with the family.”
Denver enters Sunday with a three-game winning streak and a tie for first place in the Western Conference with Memphis. The Nuggets defeated the Grizzlies on Tuesday despite the absence of Murray, who was resting his ailing left knee, and Michael Porter Jr.
Porter missed 13 games due to a left heel issue, but he returned against Portland on Friday night. In 27 minutes, he scored 18 points.
“It felt really good to be out there,” said Porter. “I’m excited to be back.”
Murray had a season-high 12 assists to go along with 25 points in the win, and he appeared energized after not playing since Sunday, when he scored six points and missed all six of his 3-point attempts. He is aware that he will have subpar games after missing the previous season due to an ACL rupture.
“I’ve accepted it,” Murray declared. “It’s (the media) that hasn’t accepted it because every time I have a bad game, they say, ‘Oh, my goodness.'” Oh, he’s not shooting really well.’ “I’m sure I’ll have those days.”
Phoenix was blown out at home by the Grizzlies on Friday night, its third straight game without Devin Booker due to groin soreness. Even without Booker, coach Monty Williams felt the team needed to be more aggressive from the opening tip.
“We got to get back chasing something and right now I feel like the prey,” Williams said. “I don’t like that feeling. I told our guys the same thing. We got to get our edge back right from the jump.”
Sunday will be the first of four games between the teams this season. The Suns have finished atop the Western Conference the previous two seasons and used that No. 1 seed to reach the NBA Finals in 2021.
Phoenix went through the Nuggets in the second round of the 2021 playoffs but that was without Murray, who had torn his left ACL a month earlier. Last season Porter played just nine games so it was left to Jokic to carry the load.
Booker leads the Suns in scoring (28.0) and assists (5.8) per game. He missed two games with hamstring tightness, returned for two and then has missed the last three. He scored a season-high 58 points against New Orleans on Dec. 17.
Williams acknowledged recently that he has played Booker “way too many minutes. I can’t look at anybody else when I put players in harm’s way.”
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