Jamal Murray, the starting point guard for the Western Conference-leading Nuggets, missed his third straight game due to an injured left ankle.

After that, Denver won six straight games at home. However, on Wednesday night, the Suns took advantage of their excellent long-range shooting, making 16 of 33 attempts from outside the arc. On threes, Denver was 10 of 40.

Nikola Jokic had 22 points, nine rebounds and 10 assists as he fought through lower back pain and left hip soreness.

The Nuggets, a half-game ahead of Oklahoma City and Minnesota, lost for just the third time in 18 games since the All-Star break, and two of those losses have come at home to the Suns, who prevailed 117-107 in overtime at Ball Arena on March 5.

Denver’s Aaron Gordon and Michael Porter Jr. each scored 18 points, but the Nuggets bench only made 5 of 19 shots.

Wednesday night, the Phoenix Suns defeated the defending champion Nuggets 104-97 in Denver, led by Kevin Durant, who finished with 30 points, 13 rebounds, and five blocks. This was the Suns’ second victory in Denver this month.

With the most difficult NBA schedule left, the Suns are trying to get up to sixth place in the Western Conference and avoid a play-in game. They are currently a half-game ahead of Sacramento in that regard. Dallas sits six points ahead of Phoenix in the standings.

After suffering a sprained right ankle during the third quarter of the Suns’ 104-102 loss to San Antonio on Monday night, center Jusuf Nurkic was out for Phoenix.

After suffering a sprained right ring finger in that game, Bradley Beal returned to the court on Wednesday night and made three 3-pointers in the first quarter to set the tone for the Suns’ explosive shooting display. In their previous visit to Ball Arena, the team had sunk fifteen 3-pointers.

The Suns led 59-52 at the half thanks to a fadeaway 6-foot jumper from Thad Young over Jokic’s extended arms. Durant then scored half of Phoenix’s points during a 10-0 run that gave the Suns the lead at 71-56 early in the third quarter.

In a single play that forced a turnover and saw Devin Booker inadvertently slap Kentavious Caldwell-Pope in the face and draw blood, Booker got away with two fouls. He then body-blocked Jokic, causing him to stumble and lose the ball out of bounds.

That served to energize the Nuggets, who pulled to 71-68 late in the third quarter. But they watched the Suns re-establish themselves via a turnaround jumper from Durant and back-to-back 3-pointers from Booker and Eric Gordon that restored Phoenix’s double-digit lead that was never really threatened again.