DENVER — The Denver Nuggets led wire-to-wire in a 133-111 win over the Phoenix Suns to open the home portion of their 2025-26 slate. Led by a triple-double from Nikola Jokic and a fiery scoring night from Jamal Murray, the Nuggets got everyone involved and made quick work of the lowly desert team.

It was a nice turnaround for the Nuggets in their Mile High City debut, as they dominated any NBA team after blowing a lead in their opener and losing in overtime on Thursday at Golden State. Denver touted much more of their reshaping from the offseason, getting a solid effort from the bench and cast around Jokic.

The Nuggets made a statement right away with how things would differ running a play for Cameron Johnson off the tip; he nailed a 3-pointer. He finished with 15 points. Also, turning it around from the Warriors game was Christian Braun, who tallied 20 — including a perfect eight makes from the free throw line. It was some of the 38 free throws the Nuggets hit on their 42 attempts, carrying them, along with 62 points in the paint.

“I know we’re the outlier in the league. Every year we’ve talked about shooting more three, I want to,” David Adelman said in his first win as the true head coach of the Nuggets. “It’s not every night, but it’s nice to have that threat out there. I hope we shoot more, but if we win games like this, and that’s how we got to be okay with it.”

10-0 Suns run in the third quarter to slice Denver’s 20-point lead in half, fueled by Devin Booker and Nuggets turnovers. The two of Braun and Johnson couldn’t slow down Booker much, going off for 30 points on 16 shots, but the Suns were pretty stifled outside of that. The Nuggets rebounded quickly from that bad stint and took advantage of the Suns’ lack of a point guard, snagging 14 turnovers, and they ran for 26 points on the break because of it.

Bruce Brown, Peyton Watson and Aaron Gordon were among those out on the run, throwing down massive dunks. The old favorite returned to a Ball Arena that roared for him and responded by scoring 11 points. The younger forward had three stocks and seven points while the vet brought it again with 17 points, including an absurd 360 alley oop and three steals.

AARON GORDON 360 SLAM 😱

NUGGETS LEAD AT THE BREAK.

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📲 https://t.co/7Dn4QFI6Ue pic.twitter.com/HN8s6lRcla

— NBA (@NBA) October 26, 2025

Watson noted that he likes seeing the Nuggets show some rough edges this early in the season and it gives the team something to work on. Adelman went as far as to say the second half sucked. Murray echoed a similar message by saying the team is a work in progress and was still trying to figure things out.

But he winked and nodded about his usual slow starts and admitted to being tired of that notion. He tallied a team-high 23 points with six rebounds and five assists, putting together another strong game.

“Yeah, that’s why I’m just focused on having a good November. October — whatever it is,” Murray said.

Jokic, who has had a strange two games to start the season, tallied 14 points in eight shots with 14 rebounds and 15 assists. He took just one shot in the first half. Jonas Valanciunas spelled Jokic nicely, scoring 12 points, which is just the second time in two seasons a Nuggets backup center has a dozen points or more.

TRIPLE-DOUBLE ALERT 🚨

Nikola Jokić (12p, 14r, 12a) posts his 166th triple-double of his career! pic.twitter.com/JUnAXWYo4o

— NBA (@NBA) October 26, 2025

What’s next for the Nuggets

Denver is back on the road, taking on the Timberwolves on Monday. The game will be televised by Peacock. The team returns home on Wednesday for a matchup against DeAndre Jordan’s Pelicans.