Suns rocked in the Rockies

DENVER - What started out as a statement week for the Phoenix Suns ended with back-to-back embarrassments and a flurry of questions for which there were no snappy answers.

In the days since Wednesday’s huge double-overtime win in Dallas that figured to swell the team with confidence, the Suns have looked deflated, demoralized and lost. And while the Pistons ran away by forcing their slow-down, physical style on Phoenix, the Denver Nuggets not only beat the Suns at their own game, they quickly pounded them into submission in a 131-107 rout at the Pepsi Center.

Denver’s new duo of Allen Iverson (44 points, 15 assists) and Carmelo Anthony (29 points) combined to hit 19 of 42 shots and scored at will against a Suns team that started off poorly and went downhill after that.

Amaré Stoudemire blamed the performance, in part on a combination of tired legs (three games and 14 quarters in four nights) and Denver’s mile-high altitude.

But the Suns have been tired before. They played here before. This was different.

“It’s been awhile since I’ve been a part of something like that,” center Kurt Thomas said. “We didn’t answer back and I’m a little shocked. In the past, when we’ve have our backs against the wall. We’ve come out swinging and got back into the game tonight, Denver never let us back in.”

But the Suns didn’t knock very hard. The turnovers — they had 21 Saturday and 43 in the last two games — kept coming. The 3-point arc has suddenly become a Bermuda Triangle – the Suns missed 11 of 13 tries in the first half and only found the range when the Nuggets were out of sight.

The defense was a rumor, and the frustrations were obvious.

“I wish I could give you guys some good quotes, but I don’t have any answers,” said Steve Nash, who had a quiet 15 points and 10 assists on one end and was undressed by Iverson on the other. “We didn’t set quick screens. We didn’t move the ball. We were very lethargic and that made us easier to guard.

“They played with a lot of heart and the way we were moving … I didn’t see any way to get back into it.”

The Suns hadn’t trailed in a game by more than 25 points all season. But Denver led by 26 (70-44) at halftime, by 38 after three quarters and by as many as 40 before the starters finally departed and the Phoenix bench managed a little damage control.

The Nuggets, who are 0-21 when they score less than 100 points, hit the century mark with 3:21 left in the third quarter on an Iverson jumper and put up the most points the Suns have allowed in regulation all year.

Suns forward Boris Diaw said Phoenix’s problems got beyond two games – back to when they were eking out wins over poor teams – and were temporarily masked by the inspired comeback win over the Mavericks.

“We’re not playing right now,” said Diaw, who had 10 points and collected his first rebounds (four) in three games. “We played half a bad game against Dallas. It was a good game because we won it. Now we’ve played badly for two whole games. We couldn’t cover the mistakes.”

PLAYOFF PREVIEW?

The Nuggets strengthened their hold on the seventh seed in the Western Conference, which would set them up for a first-round meeting with the Suns. But neither Suns coach Mike D’Antoni or Denver coach George Karl was willing to talk about that possible matchup.

“We haven’t even had our playoff meeting yet because that might (upset) the playoff gods,” Karl said. “We’re pretty sure we’ll have a pretty good opponent in the first round if we make the playoffs.”

But the Nuggets enjoy playing the up-and-down game the Suns cherish, and he was quick to point out that while his team had lost even of eight meetings to Phoenix coming into Saturday, “We’ve played some good games against them.”

HOLIDAY BLUES

The Suns are in the midst of one of their best seasons, but the holidays have been a total disaster:

• On Halloween, they blew a 19-point opening-night lead in Los Angeles and lost to the Lakers.

• On Valentine’s Day, they were shellacked 114-90 by the Sonics in what was their worst loss of the season – until this St. Patrick’s Day Saturday.

The Suns wound up 2-2 in a very challenging week — beating the Rockets and Mavericks, and losing to the Pistons and Nuggets, but guard Raja Bell said. “Going 2-2 isn’t acceptable for us, because we’re not a .500 ballclub.”

IVERSON HAS THE ANSWER

Iverson averages 28.0 points a game – third in NBA history behind Wilt Chamberlain and Michael Jordan (30.1 each) – but had managed only 19.9 a game in 14 tries against the Suns. It’s not only Iverson’s production against any team, it’s the only team he doesn’t average at least 25 points against.

But Phoenix had no answer for The Answer Saturday. He hit 16 of 22 shots from the field and added 15 assists to the 44 points he hung on the Suns.