Harris cranks it up
NUGGETS 134, SUNS 111 Guard scores 36 points as Denver turns game around
Coach Michael Malone recently proclaimed “every game scares me” on the NBA schedule.
Even games like Wednesday night’s, when his Nuggets faced a Phoenix Suns team with a record well below .500 that was playing its third game in four nights and did not arrive in Denver until about five hours before tipoff because of plane mechanical difficulties.
For the first half at the Pepsi Center, those fears looked warranted. But the Nuggets used a massive third-quarter turnaround and a wildly efficient shooting night from Gary Harris to clinch a 134-111 victory.
Harris made 14-of-17 field-goal attempts to finish with 36 points, tying his career high set last month in a loss at Boston. He reached that total with one of his biggest highlights of the night, converting a four-point play that ignited the crowd and gave Denver a 21-point lead with about four minutes remaining.
“Gary Harris just had one of those nights,” Malone said. “The start he got off to was incredible,” referencing the guard’s 9-of-10 start for 20 points in the first quarter.
“Gary can do whatever he wants,” teammate Malik Beasley said. “I guard him every day in practice. He’s really good.”
After allowing 41 points in the second quarter, Denver limited Phoenix to 18 in the third. The Nuggets (20-17) began the period on a 19-8 run, taking the lead for good when Nikola Jokic finished off an old-fashioned three-point play to make the score 73-72 at the seven-minute mark.
Denver was in danger of absorbing its first three-game losing skid of the season after a disastrous second quarter in which the Suns (15-25) outscored the Nuggets 41-27. Phoenix went 6-of-8 from 3-point distance during the
frame, including makes on four consecutive possessions to seize a 46-44 lead that would increase to 67-61 at halftime.
“I was really direct at halftime,” Malone said. “(That second quarter was) embarrassing. We all should take that personally. …
“It’s no secret — when we defend, we’re a good team. In that first half, we looked like the team that flew in the day of the game and was playing their third game in four nights. But it was great to see the defense pick up.”
Jokic scored 10 of his 14 points in the second half and added nine rebounds and eight assists to flirt with a tripledouble. Wilson Chandler added 17 points, seven rebounds and four assists, while Trey Lyles provided 16 points and 11 rebounds off the bench. Denver shot 62.2 percent overall, its second-best mark of the season, but committed 20 turnovers.
After tying for the most road games in the Western Conference through December, Wednesday’s game kicked off a January with 10 home contests. Denver is 13-4 at Pepsi Center ahead of Friday’s matchup against division rival Utah.
That game will scare Malone too. Because they all do.
“I asked our players before the game, ‘What’s our goal?’ If we want to be a playoff team, this is a game we have to have,” he said. “Let’s call it what it is . ... There would be no excuses for us to lose this game, and I think they realized that and they just picked up our defense.
“Our defense in that third quarter might have been our best defensive quarter of the season and it couldn’t have come at a better time.”