After a crazy overtime, the Nuggets beat the Suns!

The Suns, who had lost twice at home, began a long road trip that night with six stops in Denver. Despite a great collective effort to extend it, including 31 points from short-term replacement sniper Landry Shamet, Phoenix eventually had to succumb to its third straight loss against the duo of Nikola Jokic and Aaron Gordon (128-125).

However, +8 (101-93) with less than 7 minutes to go, Phoenix had all the cards in hand to break their little black streak. That was without counting AAron Gordon’s anger and Jamal Murray’s composure behind the arc. He was the last to take advantage of a good screen from Nikola Jokic and dunk to tie the score with 10 seconds left.

The Suns have match point in hand, but Mikal Bridges is whistled for an offensive foul on a badly placed screen… but the latter makes up for it by covering up Jamal Murray’s last-ditch 3-pointer. We go into overtime (113-113) to finish Christmas Eve!

In overtime, Denver seemed to take control of the game when Nikola Jokic hit a one-footed shot to put the clock on the clock at 24 and give KCP a +6 from behind the arc. But Landr Shamet answers again and again… before becoming the atoning victim of a huge dunk where Gordon crushes him under the rim!

The Suns will have a new opportunity to get out of this hornet’s nest in Colorado after Murray’s missed shot, but Bruce Brown comes to pin the ball and the crowd says: Denver wins (128-125).

WHAT TO REMEMBER

— Explosive extension. Between Landry Shamet’s kicks, Jokic’s clock ticking and, of course, the many twists and turns in his improbable scenario, overtime between the Nuggets and Suns was particularly explosive. Gordon was the big animator, but the Suns almost ruined it by going too close on a Deandre Ayton layup and then Murray’s missed shot.

— Devin Booker’s injury. He warmed up and played 4 minutes, but Devin Booker couldn’t finish the meeting with his teammates. A groin injury prevented him! He had already missed Phoenix’s three previous games with the same problem.

TOPS/FLOPS

✅ Nikola Jokic. Jokic, who scored 15 points in the first quarter, finished second on the Fanny with 16 points in the period before coming out strong after returning from the locker room. The Serbian player, who scored less but was still omnipresent at the end of the match, finished with an incredible stat line, a new powerful triple double maus (83rd of his career) with 41 points, 15 rebounds and 15 assists! Terrible!

✅ Aaron Gordon. Ultra awesome with at least seven dunks in the Christmas game, Aaron Gordon played Santa well and celebrated the night with a giant poster on Landry Shamet! With 28 points and 13 rebounds, he proves after the match that he is an ideal complement to Jokic.

✅ Landry Shamet. Not necessarily required to play 39 minutes, he perfectly responded to Monty Williams’ call after Booker’s injury with a career-high 31 points. The Sun sniper certainly struggled to start the first quarter (0/3), but he caught fire in the second half with 15 points in 9 minutes. It was he who allowed Phoenix to hang on with two 3-pointers in overtime late in the game.

⛔ Michael Porter Jr.. After a satisfying turn against the Blazers, the Nuggets winger is a shadow of himself, unable to rub shoulders with opposing interiors to change his game, now limited to outside shots. And when it doesn’t, it’s ugly, like last night (3/11, including 0/5 on 3-pointers)…

NEXT

Denver (21-11) : Travel to Sacramento on Wednesday for the first of a doubleheader with the Kings.

Phoenix (19-15) : Wednesday’s second leg of a six-stop “road trip” in Memphis.