Nuggets, Suns set to begin home-and-home series

The Phoenix Suns and Denver Nuggets have rosters dominated by youth, and those young players will be on display during All-Star weekend in New Orleans next month.

First, the young players will face off Thursday in the first of back-to-back games between the Suns and Nuggets.

Phoenix second-year guard Devin Booker and rookie forward Marquese Chriss were named to the Rising Stars Challenge, which features sophomore and rookie players in the NBA. They're going to be joined by a trio of Denver players -- guards Emmanuel Mudiay and Jamal Murray as well as center Nikola Jokic.

The Suns travel to Denver on Thursday before hosting the Nuggets in Phoenix on Saturday night. Both teams are looking to make a playoff push early in the second half of the season, and winning these two games will help.

Phoenix (15-30) is riding a two-game road winning streak but stumbled at home against Minnesota on Tuesday. The Nuggets (19-25) have won four straight home games -- one of which was played in London on Jan. 12 -- and have a chance to go above .500 at home for the first time since the start of the 2015-16 season.

Both teams are led by their young stars, and neither squad is likely to have a player named an All-Star when the reserves are announced Thursday night.

So they'll have to settle on their representatives to the Rising Stars Challenge game played Feb. 18. More importantly, both have a chance to return to the postseason with a good second half.

"It's still January. It's still the first month of the year," Phoenix coach Earl Watson told The Arizona Republic. "Every game counts."

The Suns have endured one of the toughest schedules in the NBA to this point. Only 19 of their first 45 games have been at home and they've played no more than three in a row at Talking Stick Resort Arena. Conversely, they've survived a six-game road trip in November that started in Golden State and ended in Orlando. They finished another Eastern Conference swing Sunday.

The last trip ended with wins in New York over the Knicks and at Toronto, led by 27-year-old guard Eric Bledsoe.

"I'm just trying to win, man," guard Eric Bledsoe told The Arizona Republic after scoring a career-high 40 points and dishing 13 assists against the Raptors. "No matter if I'm playing good or not, everybody else is stepping up as well. I just got to keep playing the way I'm playing and leading my team."

The Nuggets are feeling good after beating Utah on Tuesday for their fifth win in seven games.

Mudiay missed his second game with low back soreness and is questionable for Thursday's game, but Denver didn't miss a beat with veteran Jameer Nelson and Murray, a rookie, handling the point guard duties. Nelson scored 17, including seven in the final 3:55 to clinch the 10-point win, and Murray finished with five assists in 18 minutes.

He only had five points but two came on play when he went in for a dunk but switched hands for a layup as the Jazz converged.

It was one of many highlights for Denver during this offensive renaissance over the last seven games.

"It's a lot of fun," Murray said. "Everybody's moving the ball."

The focal point of the offense has been Jokic. He had 23 points, 11 rebounds, six assists and three blocks against Utah to continue his hot stretch. Over the last 24 games he has 16 double-doubles and is averaging 19.5 points, 9.9 rebounds and 4.6 assists.

"He's a guy who's got a good shot and he's a great passer," Murray said. "You can just play off him."

Both players will get their chance to shine in New Orleans in three weeks but for now it's about a playoff push. The Nuggets are in the eighth seed heading into Thursday but they have higher aspirations.

"Everybody just keeps talking about the eighth seed. Why is there a cap on making the playoffs as just an eight seed?" coach Michael Malone said.