Phoenix Suns vs. Denver Nuggets Preseason Game Preview

What: Phoenix Suns Vs. Denver Nuggets

Where: U.S. Airways Center - Phoenix, AZ

When: 7:00 p.m. (AZ)

Watch: Suns.com (Rise Network Internet streaming)

Listen: AZ Sports 98.7 FM (Locally or Streaming on Internet)

Tonight, the Phoenix Suns will take on the Denver Nuggets at home in their second preseason game of the 2014-15 NBA season.

After a slow start against the inferior Flamengo international team Wednesday night, in which Phoenix was still able to get a win, the Suns will be looking to tighten up their game, and get off to a better start...especially in the first and third quarters.

Meanwhile, the Denver Nuggets are also coming off a win on Thursday night.  However, there's was a bit more impressive.  They beat the Oklahoma City Thunder 114-101, in a game that featured both Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook (although they only played around 12-13 minutes each).

The Nuggets were led by the surprising play of Timofey Mozgov, whose 20 points, 8 rebounds, 3 blocked shots, and 1 assist posted the best stat line of the night for either team.

If Denver uses him in the same way as they did against the Thunder, Miles Plumlee, Markieff Morris, and Shavlik Randolph will have their hands full in the post. And they will need to fare much better than Steven Adams did for Oklahoma City if they want to get the win.

As for the offense, I expect the Suns to use the fully utilize their electrifying backcourt trio of Goran Dragic, Eric Bledsoe, and Isaiah Thomas to out-pace and out-score anyone whom Denver throws at them.  Isaiah got off to a slow start in the first game, going only 1-5 from the field to start the game, but he quickly turned it around, especially in the fourth quarter, and ended up leading all scorers with 18 points off the bench.  I expect him to score even more than that tonight.

Finally, one of the other match-ups to watch tonight will be the Morri vs. Faried.  Markieff Morris will almost certainly get the start against Kenneth Faried, but Keef could also play some minutes at the five.  As such, I expect that Marcus Morris will also see some time matched up with the Manimal, and that will be a good test for Marcus to see if he is able to play the four this season if called upon to do so.

In addition, it appears that Anthony Tolliver may see his first action tonight in a Suns uniform, as was reported earlier today by Phoenix head coach Jeff Hornacek.

Overall, I expect this to be a high-scoring, yet close game...as the Suns and Nuggets are both very young and talented with high-energy players.  However, I believe that the Suns highly talented guard rotation will simply be too much for the Nuggets to keep up with in the end, and that Phoenix will pull away late to earn their second consecutive victory in the preseason.

Time will tell.