The Phoenix Suns have undergone an enormous transformation since the trade deadline about a week ago. They have still pulled together to play solid team basketball since. Even though they lost three straight since the deadline, the Suns came into their contest against Denver strongly. 

Denver is struggling this season, and even after making some trades, can't seem to turn their year around. This trend continued tonight.

From the first quarter on, Phoenix played superbly as a unit and took control early and steadily. After a 35-26 first quarter advantage was gained by the Suns, the Nuggets countered by slightly gaining the edge in the second quarter. However, the Suns protected their lead and regained momentum through the second half. The final result was a 14-point win.

Nobody on the Suns scored 20 or more points, despite a 110-point output from the team as a whole. New acquisition Brandon Knight paved the way to victory with a team-high 19 points, as well as six assists. Fellow point guard Eric Bledsoe contributed 18 points, as well as six assists and six boards (also six turnovers... uh oh). Gerald Green added 15, and Marcus Morris and P.J. Tucker each scored 12. Tucker and Morris also combined for 17 boards. The only aspect of the game that didn't go strongly in Phoenix's favor was the turnover battle. The Suns gave the rock away 21 times against Denver, definitely still work to do there.

Will Barton actually led the Nuggets with a game-high 22 points. Barton, along with another new recruit, Jeffrey Lauvergne, led the team from the bench. Barton and Lauvergne combined for 17 boards as well, and Lauvergne scored 11 points of his own. Danilo Gallinari scored 20 from the front line, along with Ty Lawson's 13 and seven. The Nuggets were very inefficient and don't seem to be in the right mindset to win NBA games. They really are struggling collectively this season.

The Suns and Nuggets are both still out of the playoff picture by quite a bit, but Phoenix has more of a realistic shot to slide into the eighth spot as an underdog. Phoenix is just above .500, which is not adequate in the top-heavy Western Conference.

Phoenix's next game will come tomorrow, February 26th, against the eighth seeded Oklahoma City Thunder. Meanwhile, Denver will be back in action Friday night against the Utah Jazz.