The Phoenix Suns take on the Denver Nuggets in the final test of the preseason. After logging what head coach Alvin Gentry insisted must be the most preseason air miles of a team in the history of basketball, the Suns closed out their road-weary October schedule with a final week in Phoenix.
The team was able to get several practice sessions in, a solid day off that included a trip to the blowing alley (as documented by Jared Dudley) and two home tune-up games. The down side, and karma requires that there is always a down side, was Josh Childress breaking the tip of his right index finger.
J-Chill will sit out tonight's game and be re-evaluated early next week. He's planning on playing through the six weeks it will take to heal, but he's not Kobe Bryant. Which isn't to say he's not as tough as Kobe, but to say the Suns can survive without him for a few weeks. That's a better option than not letting the finger get better and dragging out his recovery time as Kobe did.
The Denver Nuggets come to town with a preseason record of 4-3 and are coming off a game last night in Portland.
The story from Nugget-land this summer is Carmelo Anthony's "will he stay or will he go" situation. The most recent rumors have him going to the Knicks, but SB Nation's blog Denver Stiffs says to ignore that concocted East Coast media hogwash.
Other big Nuggets news includes a fancy new neck tattoo for Chris Andersen, J.R. Smith being cleared by the Denver police in a choking incident (he allegedly choked a person, not a clutch shot), and Ty Lawson putting up better preseason numbers than Chauncey Billups. The best news, though, is that head coach George Karl is back on the bench after kicking cancer in the ass last season.