February 4th, 2010 
Stephen Rhodes 
Posted in 
Pepsi Center is one tough venue to win a game at, as any visiting NBA club can attest to. Enter the Phoenix Suns, who came there to take on the Denver Nuggets Wednesday night. The Nuggets, without Carmelo Anthony, would have a harder time winning games, despite their winning record since his absence.
Tonight would be one of those games as six Suns scored in double-digits while shooting nearly 50 percent, enabling Phoenix to grab a rare win road win, 109-97, over Denver.
The Nuggets would take a six-point lead, but a three-point play by Robin Lopez would give the Suns their first lead at 23-22 and they would build a 6-point lead of their own, taking a 28-22 lead into the second quarter. A Nene Hilario dunk would briefly give Denver a 31-30 lead, but Phoenix would retake the lead and build it up to double-digits as they took an 11-point lead into the intermission.
The Suns would lead 86-72 going into the fourth quarter and would extend that lead to 22, but the Nuggets would make a late charge, cutting it to 14 with 2:19 left to go. But unfortunately for Denver, they would only manage a lone basket by Joey Graham the rest of the way.
High scoring honors for the Suns went to Amare Stoudemire and Jason Richardson with 20 points each – with Stoudemire grabbing 17 rebounds, dishing out an assist along with 2 blocks while Richardson grabbed 7 boards, dished out an assist along with a steal and a block; Steve Nash added 17 with 2 rebounds, 10 assists, a steal and 2 blocks.
Hilario and J.R. Smith led the Nuggets with 15 points apiece – with Hilario grabbing 9 rebounds, dishing out 4 assists along with 3 steals while Smith grabbed 4 rebounds, dished out 5 assists and a steal while Kenyon Martin added 14 with 10 rebounds, 2 assists and a block.
Phoenix (30-21) plays again on Friday when they visit Sacramento to take on the Kings while Denver (33-16) visits Los Angeles to face the Lakers – also on Friday night.
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Whowould have thought that the Suns would be playing this great? Steve Nash is on a serious role. Can the Suns take out the Lakers? That may be a bit tougher.
Suns take put the Lakers? Sure – when Kobe is no longer a Laker.