In last year’s NBA playoffs, Jamal Murray broke onto the scene and played some of the most exciting basketball I have ever seen, all while putting up an all-NBA-worthy stat line of 26.5 points and 6.6 rebounds in that playoff run. He is one of the twitchiest players in the NBA as he can change directions in a split second, and stop on a dime to get off his jumper whenever he wants to.
He started this season slowly but began picking up steam coming down the stretch before he went down with a devastating ACL injury in a game against the Warriors when they were down big late in the fourth court, and he probably shouldn’t have even been in the game.
Nikola Jokic won the MVP award yesterday, and when Murray went down with his injury, Jokic picked up his workload and the Nuggets were able to secure the third seed in the competitive west. Then in the first round, Jokic did enough to get past the Trail Blazers in six games.
This led the Nuggets to a collision course with the new and improved Suns led by Devin Booker, Chris Paul, and one of the best defenses in the league. When you give a team time to gameplan for specifically one player throughout a series, it becomes a lot easier to stop a one-man attack. This is what the Suns are doing to Jokic and the Nuggets. The Nuggets have also been without PJ Dozier, and they just got Will Barton back for game two. Their backcourt is depleted, and the Suns are bringing double and triple teams on Jokic and making the backcourt of Facu Campazzo and Austin Rivers beat them with jump shots and drives to the basket. This strategy is working wonders, as the Suns take a 2-0 lead in the series behind a dominating 123-98 victory in game two.
The only guy on the Nuggets that is a consistent threat to create a shot for themself or others is Jokic. As good as Michael Porter Jr. is, he relies heavily on his three-point jumper, and rarely ever looks to get his teammates involved. Jokic is a willing passer to a fault, and when he doesn’t have a co-star like Murray to go and get a bucket when he gets doubled, the whole offense falls apart. The Nugs offense was extremely stagnant last night other than a brief spurt in the 1st quarter where Will Barton finally checked into the game and scored seven quick points. The Suns quickly adjusted, got hot from three, and proceeded to slowly pull away from Denver throughout the game.
The Suns showed off their balanced attack yesterday and how they do not rely on a singular player for a majority of their offense. The Suns didn’t have a single-player score more than 18 points, and ten players had more than seven points. This was all orchestrated by the point god himself Chris Paul.
He had 17 points, 15 rebounds, and zero turnovers. He is the first player to do that in a playoff game since 2014, and the player to do that was… Chris Paul. Then before that, the last player to do it was in 2008, and it was once again, Chris Paul. He truly controls a game without having to score at all. Paul once again had a stretch where he showed just how he can take over a game scoring the ball but chooses not to in favor of keeping his teammates involved. He put Paul Milsap on skates, then found a cutting Torrey Craig for his 15th assist, and then hit back to back threes two possessions later to put the game away in the middle of the 4th.
Ayton and Booker had solid performances as per usual, but the role guys on the team showed just how important they are to the team. Jae Crowder, Mikal Bridges, Cam Johnson, and Torrey Craig all locked up on defense and made their open shots. This makes opposing teams close out hard which makes it much easier to shot fake and get to the bucket and either find a wide-open shooter or go up for a layup.
The Sun’s offense was once again poetry in motion in game two, and if the Nuggets don’t significantly change their game plan to increase ball movement, we could see this series being over in the blink of an eye.
