With a five-game winning streak on the line the Denver Nuggets are going back on the road for a quick one game road trip against the Phoenix Suns. The Suns have effectively been an average team for most of the year. Their front office tried to change things up, but the best thing they could do was acquire three players from the Charlotte Hornets over the last month. That worked for the Dallas Mavericks and PJ Washington last year, but Nick Richards, Cody Martin, and Vasilije Micic are decidedly less NBA proven than Washington was at the time.

So, for all of the hemming and hawing about the trade deadline (myself included), it could always be worse. The Suns are being held hostage by their own max contract player with a no-trade clause. They’re in a tough place and seriously considered trading Kevin Durant as a result. We will see how that affects their group for the rest of the season.

Let’s delve back into the Phoenix Suns matchup for the second time this year:

Denver Nuggets @ Phoenix Suns

Projected Starting Lineups

Denver: Jamal Murray, Christian Braun, Michael Porter Jr., Aaron Gordon, Nikola Jokic

Phoenix: Tyus Jones, Devin Booker, Grayson Allen, Royce O’Neale, Nick Richards

Key Bench Players

Denver: Jalen Pickett, Julian Strawther, Hunter Tyson, Zeke Nnaji, DeAndre Jordan

Phoenix: Monte Morris, Bradley Beal, Ryan Dunn, Bol Bol, Mason Plumlee

Notable Injuries

Denver: Michael Porter Jr. – QUESTIONABLE, Jamal Murray – QUESTIONABLE, Aaron Gordon – PROBABLE, Russell Westbrook – OUT, Peyton Watson – OUT, Vlatko Cancar – OUT, DaRon Holmes II – OUT

Phoenix: No Idea, but Kevin Durant and Bradley Beal both missed last night’s game due to injury, while Cody Martin and Vasilije Micic are still getting adjusted after trade from Charlotte. I have Beal playing and Durant out, but it’s a guess.

Key for the Nuggets – Keep the good vibes going

Five game winning streaks are hard to come by. On the season this year, the Nuggets have had two, including their current streak. They were close during January with two four-game winning streaks bisected by a single loss to the Houston Rockets without Nikola Jokic.

Despite Denver’s own injury issues heading into the All-Star break, they’ve found ways to win with different guys stepping up. The consistency of Nikola Jokic and Michael Porter Jr. is of course notable, but Christian Braun has played great basketball, Aaron Gordon is back out there, Julian Strawther is impacting the game. Even Zeke Nnaji is locking in and taking advantage of his opportunity.

The last time the Nuggets went on the road, it started a three-game losing streak that was notable in how awful it felt. If Denver can continue the positive momentum heading into the break with a few more wins, Denver will get to take a much earned rest…in a few days.

Important Matchup – Devin Booker vs Christian Braun

Booker was the only member of the Suns Competent Three to play against the Utah Jazz last night, and despite having to struggle vs the Jazz, Booker was tremendous. He logged 47 points and 11 assists while carrying almost all of the burden, playing 49 out of 53 minutes…against the Jazz.

I have little doubt that Booker’s pretty tired, so Christian Braun has a major opportunity: defend, rebound, and run. If Braun can make things challenging for Booker on defense, he can turn around quickly and get some easier runouts, back cuts, and dribble handoffs on the other end. Booker’s not a bad defender, but if Durant is out against and he has to handle the ball 70% of the time on the other end, he just can’t go both ways at such a high level days before the All-Star break on a back-to-back.

Number of the Day – 71

There have been 71 player duos in the NBA this season to share the floor for over 1,000 regular season minutes.

Among those 71 duos, Nikola Jokic and Michael Porter Jr. rank second in the NBA with a +14.5 Net Rating in 1,283 minutes. The only duo to rank higher in the entire NBA: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Lu Dort of the Oklahoma City Thunder with a +17.1 Net Rating in their minutes.

Why does this matter? Nuggets ownership committed to Porter through this season, putting the kibosh on any possible trades early in the process, according to a league source. When looking at numbers like the one here, it’s pretty easy to see why there’s belief in Porter. He and Jokic have developed better and better chemistry this year, and they’ve beaten up on bad teams consistently. The Suns defense is bad too, so I wouldn’t expect this to be any different.

Nugget who should have a good game: Michael Porter Jr.

I mean, is there any reason to say anyone else other than Nikola Jokic or Michael Porter Jr. at this point? It’s been incredible to watch that duo operate over this last three game homestand. Taking the show on the road will force them to regain some comfortability, but I honestly expect both to do so.

With that in mind, let’s pick Porter, who is on a streak of three straight 30-point games for the first time in his NBA career. He is questionable with hamstring tightness heading into the game, but if he plays, expect him to cut and space fairly well. The Suns are notoriously small on the wings, and while Royce O’Neale and Ryan Dunn are smart defenders, Porter is so much bigger than them and any guard he matches up with.