At 11:30 a.m. Beijing time on December 26, the NBA ushered in the Christmas game, and the Phoenix Suns hosted the visiting Denver Nuggets. After four quarters of fierce battle, the Suns finally defeated the Nuggets 110-100 to end a three-game losing streak.

Statistics:

Nuggets: Jokic 25 points and 15 rebounds, Porter 22 points, Murray 13 points, 6 rebounds and 6 assists, Westbrook 17 points and 6 rebounds;

Suns: Durant 27 points, 4 rebounds, 6 assists and 2 blocks, Nurkic 8 points, 13 rebounds and 6 assists, Beal 27 points and 4 steals, Jones 17 points, Morris 11 points.

Both Injuries and Stoppages:

Nuggets: Holmes (Achilles tendon), Chanchar (knee);

Suns: Gillespie (ankle), Bol (knee), Booker (groin), Allen (concussion).

Tournament Progression:

In the first quarter, Durant scored two points and Jones hit three points, but Porter immediately responded with five consecutive points. The Suns exploded, blasting a 10-1 attack wave to take a nine-point lead, and Porter made a layup to stop the bleeding. After that, the two sides fell into a stalemate, and the Suns always maintained the lead. The Nuggets also had a small surge, as they went on an 8-3 run to narrow the deficit to four points. Beal made two free throws to stabilize the situation, and the Nuggets scored three more points in a row to tie the score. The Suns hit another 7-3 attack to open the score, and the Nuggets were not to be outdone, scoring consecutive points to close the gap again. Morris scored 5 points in a row to extend the difference to 9 points again, Westbrook flew to the basket, Jokic played 2+1 again, and at the end of the first quarter, the Suns led the Nuggets by 4 points at 38-34.

Coming back in the second quarter, the Suns scored four points in a row at the beginning of the game and extended the difference to eight points, after which the two sides fell into a long iron battle, and the score remained unchanged for a long time. Murray hit a three-pointer to finally break the deadlock, and Beal scored on a pull-up jumper. The two sides went back and forth, but the efficiency was surprisingly low, and the last 3 minutes of the quarter finally ushered in the scoring climax of the two sides. The Nuggets launched a 9-0 attack wave to complete the comeback, and the Suns were not to be outdone and responded with a 5-2 lead. At halftime, the Suns still led the Nuggets by two points at 58-56.

After the start of the third quarter, the two sides fell into a long tug-of-war, and the score rose from 58 to 70 and 75. The Suns were the first to find their senses, Durant hit a mid-range shot, Jones broke through and threw a shot, and Westbrook hit the inside and caused a foul and made two free throws to finally stabilize the situation. But the Suns' offense continued unabated, Durant hit two more free throws, O'Neal made a layup, and the Suns stretched the gap to 7 points. Murray made a foul to score two points to tighten the score, but Okogie broke the ball and scored a dunk to return the favor. With Jokic missing a buzzer-beating jumper, the third quarter ended, and the Suns had led the Nuggets by as many as seven points at 85-78.

In the final quarter, Plumlee came up to make a 2+1 to help the Suns establish a double-digit lead, and Strawther hit a three-point shot to color. After that, the two sides entered a tug-of-war, and the Nuggets once closed the gap to 5 points, but the Suns blasted a wave of 7-0 to widen the difference to 12 points, and the Nuggets had to choose a timeout. After the timeout, Beal scored two more points, and the margin had widened to 14 points. Watson hit two free throws to finally stop the bleeding, Beal hit another layup, Watson also hit a mid-range shot, and the Suns continued to extend their lead. With Durant's layup, the Suns went into the final three minutes with a 15-point advantage. The Nuggets scored four straight points to chase the game, but Jones made a three-pointer to kill the game. In the end, the game was over, and the Suns defeated the Nuggets 110-100 to end a three-game losing streak.

Both teams start:

Nuggets: Murray, Braun, Porter, Gordon, Jokic;

Suns: Jones, Beal, Dunn, Durant, Nurkic.