Wallace scored a season-high 23 points and Rodgers added 22, to help the Suns' bench outscore Denver's reserves, 52-22.
"It's just a matter of Scott (Phoenix coach Scott Skiles) feeling he had to go to me earlier than usual, and I just tried to come out and do what I could do to help the team," Wallace said. "Some nights, it's going to be a matchup in my favor and some nights, it's not. So that's the reason for the discrepancy in some games I play and some games I don't."
 Shawn Marion was one of three Suns to record double-doubles, and one of three to score 22+ points. Mitchell Layton /NBAE/Getty Images |
Suns guard Penny Hardaway had 12 points, 11 assists and 10 rebounds for his fourth career triple-double and first since April 18, 2000.
Phoenix took an 82-71 lead into the fourth quarter and did not allow Denver to get closer than 89-82 on a layup by Voshon Lenard with 7:22 remaining.
The Nuggets' starting backcourt of Nick Van Exel and Avery Johnson combined for 45 points but totaled just one in the fourth quarter. Van Exel had 24 points and Johnson added a season-high 21 and nine assists.
"I think our effort was good but a typical example of how we have a lot of work to do," Johnson said. "The last two minutes of the second quarter weren't very good. We just did some things that weren't good basketball decisions. We got into our play slower, so it's just a period like that when you're on the road and you're tired -- you can't let a team go on an 11-2 or 9-2 run."
Denver led, 49-46, but Phoenix closed the second quarter with a 12-2 run over the last 4:12.
Raef LaFrentz collected 11 points, 13 rebounds and seven blocks for the Nuggets, who have lost eight straight road games and are 0-11 when allowing at least 100 points.
"We got a big win last night (over Philadelphia) and tonight we tried to follow that up," LaFrentz said. "But we're not discouraged."
Denver, which defeated the Suns in two previous meetings this season, fell to 1-2 under coach Mike Evans.
"They were the fresher team tonight," Evans said. "They got a big lift from their bench. Their reserves came in and really played well and shot the ball well. I felt that we competed, but I don't think that we had enough in the tank after last night to get us over the hump."
Phoenix held a 49-36 edge on the glass, improving to 9-3 when outrebounding an opponent. The Suns also set a season high with 36 assists, five better than their previous best on December 3 against Golden State.
"We're just glad to get the win," Rogers said. "They've beat us twice this year. Being at home, we want to get a little streak going. We were able to pull out the win and guys played well tonight."
"We had a challenge because they beat us twice," Marion added. "We had to go out there and win this game. We needed this game, so we went out there and we did it."