Kevin Durant scored 30 points, grabbed 13 rebounds, and blocked five shots as the Phoenix Suns defeated the defending champion Nuggets 104-97 on Wednesday night.

The Suns, who have the most difficult remaining schedule in the NBA, pulled a half-game ahead of Sacramento for seventh place in the Western Conference, as they strive to climb to sixth to avoid a play-in game. Dallas is sixth place, half a game ahead of Phoenix.

The Western Conference-leading Nuggets struggled without starting point guard Jamal Murray, who missed his third consecutive game due to a sprained left ankle.

Nikola Jokic had 22 points, nine rebounds, and 10 assists despite lower back stiffness and left hip soreness.

The Nuggets, a half-game ahead of Oklahoma City and Minnesota, lost for the third time in 18 games since the All-Star break, with two of those losses coming at home against the Suns, who won 117-107 in overtime at Ball Arena on March 5.

Denver won six straight home games after that, but they were once again defeated by the Suns’ excellent long-range shooting on Wednesday night, when they made 16 of 33 attempts from behind the arc. Denver was 10 for 40 on threes.

Michael Porter Jr. and Aaron Gordon both scored 18 points for Denver, while the Nuggets’ bench shot only 5 of 19.

Jusuf Nurkic was out for Phoenix with a sprained right ankle suffered in the third quarter of the Suns’ 104-102 loss to San Antonio on Monday night.

Bradley Beal exited that game with a sprained right ring finger, but he started Wednesday night and hit three 3-pointers in the opening quarter, setting the tone for the Suns’ torrid shooting performance, which included 15 3-pointers in their previous visit to Ball Arena.

Thad Young’s fadeaway 6-foot shot over Jokic’s outstretched arms gave the Suns a 59-52 halftime lead, and Durant scored half of Phoenix’s points in a 10-0 run that helped the Suns seize control early in the third quarter, 71-56.

Devin Booker got away with two fouls on one play after forcing a turnover, accidentally hitting Kentavious Caldwell-Pope in the face and drawing blood, and then cross-body-blocking Jokic, who fumbled the ball out of bounds as he toppled over a sprawled-out Booker.

That energized the Nuggets, who closed to 71-68 late in the third quarter. However, they witnessed the Suns re-establish themselves with a turnaround jumper from Durant and back-to-back 3-pointers from Booker and Eric Gordon, restoring Phoenix’s double-digit advantage, which was never seriously threatened again.