On Tuesday night, the Denver Nuggets six-game winning streak was snapped in overtime vs the Phoenix Suns. The Suns won 117-107, doing a great job defensively against Denver’s interior attack and forcing the Nuggets into a perimeter shooting game. The Suns separated in overtime after the Nuggets worked hard to come back from down by as many as 22 points in the third quarter.
Nikola Jokic finished the game with 25 points, 16 rebounds, and five assists, though he had an uncharacteristically high seven turnovers against a disciplined Suns defense. Jokic shot just 8-of-18 from the field and just 4-of-11 from two-point range. Former teammate Jusuf Nurkic played physical, strong defense (perhaps getting away with fouls here or there) and was a major deterrent against Jokic’s usual paint dominance.
Jamal Murray finished with 28 points on 12-of-25 from the field and just two free throw attempts. Murray added nine assists and seven rebounds in an impressive game overall but with some mistakes throughout. Murray made a mid-range jumper with 45 seconds left to put the Nuggets up three, but Kevin Durant hit a heroic three-pointer on the next possession to tie the game back up.
The Nuggets still had a chance to win it at the end with the game tied at 102 with four seconds remaining. Denver dialed up a play for Nikola Jokic, who caught the ball on the left side of the floor and drove to a baseline floater against Suns newcomer Royce O’Neale. Jokic’s floater was off, but the Nuggets liked the shot that Jokic got.
“Great look to win it at the buzzer,” shared Michael Malone postgame.
“I think the shot was good,” Jokic shared. “Sometimes you miss, sometimes you make, you know? It is what it is.”
The Suns separated from Denver in overtime, as Denver’s defense fell apart a bit in that final period as exhausted as Denver was from the comeback. The Suns scored on every trip down during the overtime period, and the Nuggets committed two turnovers on the first two possessions and missed other shots too.
“It’s just frustrating man,” Jamal Murray shared postgame. “You put a lot of energy and effort to make up for that quarter, and you come out with a loss. It’s just tough to go back home at night.”
The Nuggets had plenty of chances to win that game in regulation, especially with the defense they played in the fourth quarter, allowing the Suns to score just 12 points. Denver was dialed defensively and made some heroic plays, but unfortunately, Denver scored just 21 points on the other end and shot 3-of-13 from three-point range in the fourth quarter. They needed one more three, and it just didn’t happen.
One of the players who struggled on the perimeter was Peyton Watson. The Suns dared him to shoot on multiple occasions, and the 21-year-old Nuggets wing had opportunities to make a big three for Denver in the stretch run. Unfortunately, Watson went 0-of-5 from three on the evening, including 0-of-4 in the fourth on shots he has made all season.
“It’s an open shot. You’ve seen him make that shot,” Jamal Murray passionately defended Peyton Watson’s shooting night. “Let’s not knock him when he misses a couple threes. He’s in his second year. How many games has he played? 100? He’s good guys. No worries about him making an open shot.”
“I think that game was lost in the second quarter,” Malone declared. “You have to expend so much energy to get back in the game.”
To Malone’s point, the Nuggets allowed a 37-18 second quarter from the Suns in which Kevin Durant and Grayson Allen couldn’t be stopped. Durant ended up shooting 14-of-34 on the evening but shot 4-of-4 in the second quarter alone. Allen shot 3-of-3 in the quarter and was tremendous as a floor spacer, hitting his first eight three-point attempts.
“I don’t think we were disciplined enough,” Jamal Murray shared. “They came out a lot more aggressive in their movements, and we were just a step late and they were just hitting. We missed a lot of really good looks.”
The Nuggets allowed turnovers to flow into the Suns offense, and Jusuf Nurkic played a big part in that. He was a rim deterrent for both Nikola Jokic and Aaron Gordon tonight. The two Nuggets interior scorers combined to shoot 6-of-18 from two-point range, a far cry from their normally sterling efficiency. That clogging of the paint made it difficult to find driving, cutting, and passing lanes for Denver’s offense.
So, Denver’s six-game win streak is over. They had plenty of opportunities to win vs a Suns team without Devin Booker, but they blew it. It’s one of the first times in recent memory the Nuggets didn’t ultimately come through in the clutch. Does it mean anything?
Probably not.
The Nuggets know how to attack the Suns. Much of the solution for Denver involves not committing unforced errors, staying disciplined in the game plan, and not going down by 22 points in the first place. The Suns deserve credit for sticking it to Denver in the second quarter, but the Nuggets (probably) won’t let that happen in a playoff environment with more precision up and down the rotation.
In addition, so much of Denver’s offense gets back to Jokic doing what it takes to solve the opposition. He didn’t solve Nurkic tonight, and when Nurkic fouled out, he didn’t solve the Suns packing the paint either, forcing passes into windows that weren’t there. The Nuggets will game plan for this style to help Jokic out a bit, and he will find ways to counter. Ultimately though, Jokic’s inability to put pressure on the rim disrupted things for Aaron Gordon, who’s dependent on that Jokic pressure as well.
Now, the Nuggets will look to the Boston Celtics on Thursday night, another matchup between the two best teams in the NBA and two most likely champions this season. Will the Nuggets be up for the task?
Time will tell.
Final Rotations
