Nuggets fall to Suns 97-89; Gallo sees first action

Oct 10, 2014; Phoenix, AZ, USA; Phoenix Suns guard Eric Bledsoe (2) and Denver Nuggets forward Danilo Gallinari (8) and Phoenix Suns center Miles Plumlee (22) go after a loose ball during the first half at US Airways Center. Mandatory Credit: Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY Sports

The Denver Nuggets went to Phoenix for their 3rd preseason game of the year and fell to the Suns 97-89 at US Airways Center.  The best news to come out of the game was that Danilo Gallinari made his first appearance on the court since April of 2013 and had a very productive 14 minutes off the bench for the Nuggets.  Gallo scored 17 points on 5 of 9 shooting including knocking down a couple of 3 pointers.  He didn’t look tentative in the game as witnessed by the photo included with this post as he was diving for loose balls like the Gallo of old.  The Nuggets also got nice contributions from Center Timofey Mozgov who continued his good play pouring in 14 points and also from Rookie Center Yusef Nurcic who tallied 12 rebounds in the contest.  The Suns were led by Goran Dragic and Markieff Morris who each scored 12 points for Phoenix.

The Nuggets undoing came in the 2nd and 3rd quarters as they were outscored by a combined 51-35 in those 2 quarters.  They did come back with a good 4th quarter to make the game interesting by outscoring the Suns 25-17 in the frame.  The Nuggets fall to 1-2 on the preseason while the Suns improved to 2-0.  Kenneth Faried did not play in the game as the Nuggets are nursing him through the preseason after his long summer with the US National Team in Spain.  Ty Lawson chipped in with 7 points and 4 assists in limited minutes for the Nuggets as well.

Next up for the Nuggets is a game against the Bulls in Chicago on Monday.