Shai Gilgeous-Alexander doubtful for OKC Thunder as West 'threat' Suns visit

The Phoenix Suns responded to Monday’s bad loss at now 17-win San Antonio with an impressive victory Wednesday night over the defending NBA champion Denver Nuggets.

The Nuggets (51-22) have just three losses since the NBA All-Star break. Two have come against the Suns (43-30) with both being in Denver.

So what?

“We want to build on what we do,'' said Suns superstar Kevin Durant after his 30-point, 13-rebound and five-block performance in Wednesday’s win. "I’m glad we didn’t let that San Antonio game bleed over to the next game. It’s about being consistent and giving that effort we’ve been showing throughout the season.”

The Suns look to build off that victory Friday at Oklahoma City (50-22) in the fourth of a five-game road trip that ends next week at New Orleans (44-28).

“It’s a really talented team and they are definitely a threat to any team in the West,” said Nuggets big, two-time NBA MVP Nikola Jokic, about the Suns after Wednesday’s game.

The Thunder are coming off an overtime loss Wednesday to the NBA’s hottest team, Houston, winners of its last 10 games. OKC was without All-Star and MVP candidate, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who sat with a right quad contusion and is listed as doubtful for Friday’s game.

“Credit them, they did a really good job of getting to their stuff, putting us in tough spots,” said Thunder coach Mark Daigneault about the red-hot Rockets. “They went and got that game. They deserve that game.”

Gilgeous-Alexander averaged 35 points in his two games against the Suns this season. The Suns may not have to deal with him Friday, but are 0-2 versus the Thunder and still face the toughest remaining NBA schedule.

“We know what’s at stake,” Suns coach Frank Vogel said. “We know how many games we have left, we know what the schedule looks like. We still say we remain confident against anybody on the schedule as illustrated by coming in and beating the champs in their building. Next game up. Competition is fierce. We’re going to have to repeat this, stay at this level to continue to win games.”

Beating the top seed in the West twice in Denver shows how good the Suns can be, but they’re still fighting to avoid the play-in tournament. If the playoffs started today, they’d host Sacramento (42-30) in a 7-8 game with the winner getting the seventh seed and the loser playing the 9-10 Lakers-Warriors winner at home for the eighth and final seed in the West.

"I'm not one to undermine the win, downplay what we did, but the new season starts in couple of weeks and these games don't matter at all once that season starts," Durant said.

The Suns won for the first time this season without starting center Jusuf Nurkic, who missed Wednesday’s game with a right ankle sprain suffered in Monday’s loss. They were previously 0-4 in games he didn't play.

The 7-footer is listed as questionable for Friday’s game.

Suns star guard Bradley Beal played Wednesday through a right ring finger sprain he injured Monday. He’s not listed on the Suns injury report.

“I feel good,” said Beal after Wednesday’s game as scored 10 points on 3-of-11 shooting and had seven assists. “It was just good to be out there. It got hit a few times, but it was alright. They told me I was going to have to deal with it for a few weeks. If that's the case, I got to be out there.”

Have opinions about the current state of the Suns? Reach Suns Insider Duane Rankin at dmrankin@gannett.com or contact him at 480-787-1240. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter, at @DuaneRankin.

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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander doubtful for OKC Thunder as West 'threat' Suns visit