But Saturday, the Suns backed up an impressive home win over Orlando with a great first half in Denver. But whether it was the Nuggets or the mile-high altitude or the fact they didn't get to Denver until nearly 4 a.m. after playing their starters heavy minutes against the Magic, the lead got away and so did the game. At the end, Steve Nash was livid that no foul was called on his attempt at a game-tying layup, and coach Alvin Gentry sealed the loss by picking up two technical fouls with two seconds left.

Gentry, a stock market fanatic who watches his wallet, wasn't about to incur a fine for a game that was already lost.

"I didn't see anything," he told reporters with a roll of the eyes. "They didn't call a foul, so obviously it wasn't a foul. I didn't see anything. I'm not giving them my money. So, no, I didn't see anything. It was a great call. No call, that's fine."

Of course, it can be argued that a team that blows a 70-53 lead in the third quarter doesn't have much room to complain anyhow.

The good news is the gauntlet that had the Suns playing 16 of their first 24 games on the road has finally come to an end. The Suns wound up splitting the road games down the middle at 8-8. Now the schedule starts to fill up with games at US Airways Center, where the Suns are unbeaten (8-0) and shooting the ball with uncanny accuracy.

NUGGETS 105, SUNS 99: Looking for their second big win in as many nights, the Suns rolled to a 17-point third-quarter lead but ran out of gas as the Nuggets found a second wind. Carmelo Anthony led the Denver with 32 points while Chauncey Billups had 17 of his 24 points and all five of his 3-pointers in the second half.

Steve Nash had 28 points and seven assists for the Suns, but missed a chance to tie the game on a layup with seven seconds left.