Nuggets make a statement

The Denver Nuggets haven’t had much luck in Phoenix over their last 13 tries, but that all changed Thursday night.

While the New York Knicks were getting killed on TNT, which previously took the Nuggets off in favor of the more popular game, the Nuggets were doing the opposite in Phoenix.

Led by the duo of Ty Lawson and Nene, the Nuggets outhustled the Suns and attacked Phoenix on both sides of the ball.

Lawson once again took control of the game, he attacked the basket to score 20 points and added 11 assists. He also recorded four steals, including an inbound late in the first half to help the Nuggets secure a 59-49 advantage at halftime. Lawson also scored seven points down the stretch to secure the victory in the fourth quarter. He also did an admiral job on Steve Nash and forced six turnovers.

Nene followed up his 25-point, 14-rebound effort on Saturday with a 22 and 7 performance Thursday. Nene also picked up three steals, and also stole an outlet pass for a dunk to close out the first half.

As a team the Nuggets scored 23 points off of the Suns 19 turnovers and they once again racked up the assists with 28 in the contest. Denver also had 15 steals.

The Nuggets shot 51.7 percent from the field with five players scoring in double-figures.

-Arron Afflalo missed the contest due to an injury to his hamstring. It was the first game he had missed all season.

-Gary Forbes started in his spot and had nine rebounds.

-Chris Andersen hit all six of his shots from the field.

-The Nuggets twin tours (Kousta Koufos and Timofey Mosgov) combined for 10 points in 10 minutes in garbage time.

-Denver had three players with five assists or more (Lawson, Raymond Felton and Kenyon Martin).

-At this time last season, Denver was 44-21 and finished the season 9-8.