After fighting through various levels of adversity in the first round, the Suns and Nuggets are set to face off tonight in Game One of their second-round series.
The Nuggets were considered strong challengers to come out of the Western Conference throughout the season, and especially following the trade for versatile defensive forward Aaron Gordon, but those hopes were dealt a crushing blow when Jamal Murray tore his ACL in April. Murray led the team in scoring, assists, and three-pointers made during Denver’s run to the Western Finals in last year’s Bubble playoffs, and without him, the Nuggets’ odds to win the NBA championship have dropped to the lowest of any team left in the playoffs.
The Suns arrival to the Western Conference Semifinals, meanwhile, has been more unexpected. While their 8-0 run at Walt Disney World last summer hinted that they were ready to start competing at a higher level, this is still the team’s first playoff appearance in 11 years. The last time Phoenix hosted a second round playoff game, their team was geared around the high-octane attack of Steve Nash and Amar’e Stoudemire.
Now, the game plan involves surrounding star shooting guard Devin Booker with smart, physical defenders who can space the floor around him, such as Mikal Bridges, Cameron Johnson, Jae Crowder, and former Nugget Torrey Craig, as well as the two-man game of pick-and-roll maestro Chris Paul and up-and-coming third-year center Deandre Ayton.
How Ayton holds up defensively against MVP frontrunner Nikola Jokic will be crucial to defining how Phoenix fares in this series. Ayton defended Jokic remarkably well for such a young player during the regular season, but Jokic is almost impossible to stop when he gets rolling, and the Suns have no true backup center to throw at him should Ayton get in foul trouble.
On the other end, injuries forced the Nuggets to start Facundo Campazzo and Austin Rivers during the first round, which presents issues against a player of Booker’s caliber. If the Nuggets keep the same starting lineup, that could mean major minutes with Gordon as the primary defender on Booker, as he was against Damian Lillard in round one.
However, if Will Barton is able to return for Game One, as head coach Michael Malone hinted he might, that would give Denver a tall, athletic wing to throw at Booker.
One other key factor for the Nuggets will be the play of Michael Porter Jr. Porter was the team’s second highest scorer in the first round, and if the Nuggets want to get back to the Western Conference Finals, they’re going to need him to take on an even bigger scoring role against the Suns, who have more defenders to try on the prolific-scoring second year forward than the Trail Blazers did.
We want to know what you think. Are you picking the Suns or the Nuggets to advance to the Western Conference Finals? How many games do you think the series will go?
Vote in our poll, then head to the comment section below to share your thoughts!
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Cam Payne is huge
I’d pay him 4 years $80 million
Kings pay Fox $158 million and get rid of Bogdanovic
Bogdanovic value is around 8th pick this year
How is his value the 8th pick? Please elaborate on these clearly ridiculous theories u spout
Phoenix is a matchup problem for Denver.
At the guard slots, Denver doesn’t have any great defenders. Dozier and Barton are OK defensively, but neither is healthy. That means Booker is going to have a good series, unless Denver tries to put Gordon on him the whole time (which will be tough).
On the other end, Porter Jr. is likely going to struggle against Jae Crowder and Bridges. If he doesn’t, than maybe Denver can win it. But I think he’s still too inexperienced to have a big series.
And then there’s Ayton, who seems like he does OK with Jokic. He’s not nearly as good as Jokic, but Ayton isn’t exactly a wallflower when facing Denver. Ayton should hold his own in terms of scoring and rebounding.
It will be a close series, but the Suns should pull it out. And I bet the Campazzo/Chris Paul matchup will be fun to watch!
Denver’s two emergency guards, Campazzo and Rivers, are both better defenders than the normal starters, Murray (who is slow footed on that end) and Barton (who is up and down). In fact, the Nuggets have gotten better defensively since the injury spree. That’s not their problem. It’s offense, when Jokic has no one but MPJ to feed. That’s where Barton and especially Murray are badly missed.
Jokic is always going to score some buckets, but he is most dangerous as a distributor. The Suns just have to make sure the rest of the team does not score too much (which basically means shutting down Porter Jr.) and they should be OK.
I like the Suns and love Monty Willams but I mean cmon, they more or less were handed a series by AD going down game 4 then fought thru adversity
If AD was firing on all cylinders and healthy they get swept
If AD and Chris Paul had been both healthy, you mean?
Sure maybe 5 games then … point being, I don’t see the adversity…AD went down, then they went up by 30 in game 5 and 6 ….That isn’t adversity (Well maybe in 2021)
The series was an overall snooze fest (mostly attributable to the Lakers side) There was nothing to take or move forward from that series other than to forget it ever existed for PHX and likewise the Lakers
AD played more minutes than any Laker in game one and they lost… so tell me how AD firing on all cylinders would had helped the lakers sweep the suns when they lost with him?
Check my post after game 1
Now I assume you watched games 1, 2 and 3 –
Did your eyes tell you AD was the same person in games 2 and 3 as he was in game 1 ? No , this is not fan-speak, just roll the tape
Does it suck that it takes him a playoff loss to have to get to “No smiles in practice AD”….Sure it stings a little, but the Suns lose easily if all parties equal/healthy/Inspired …..And I DO like the Suns, thats just my opinion, it was a bad matchup for them bc of AD from the beginning, and so the series went as AD did , AD tells his teamates this series is on me before game 1, get me later, I think they sweep barring health
This is all hypothetical mumbo jumbo.
If AD did this before game one…. whatever. They lost and we cant speculate any other outcome
Agree, its ultimately pointless, my main point was Suns didn’t face any ADversity Rd 1 .
That was on par for one of the worst rd 1 series there was (and there were plenty, especially from the East)
That’s absurd! the only reason the Suns lost games 2 and 3 is because CP3 was playing with 1 arm and it wasn’t his dominant one. With a healthy CP3 and a healthy AD, the suns still win in 6.
It’s hard to know without Tatsumaka explaining to us who the NBA has chosen to win.
But also, it’ll be CP3’s fault that the Suns don’t win, because CP3 isn’t winner.
Lakers in 5.
Tats berated me for not choosing Lakers last yr. Yet all this yr he has berated Bron. I don’t t get him lol.
Nuggets without Murray are not winning. It’s going to be fun to see Ayton go against Jokic. This is a serious matchup. If Ayton can hold his own. It could be over quick. I like Suns in six.
Picked Phoenox a little over 2 months ago, so I’m going with them in 6 games in a close series. I think Phoenix, Denver, and Utah are all very close, but Phoenix slightly edges them, with their depth and versatility. Chris Paul’s health obviously is in question, so that should make it more interesting, but they have multiple different guards they can go to. Javon Carter has played elite defense at times the last 2 years. Langston Galloway can play both guard spots. Payne can score and defend. Etwan Moore gives them some potential size and scoring at those positions in certain lineups…Bridges, Crowder, Cam Johnson, Craig, and Saroc gove them defense, size/length, and versatility at the 3/4 spots, and then they have Kaminsky to space the floor as a big behind Ayton, that can adequately defend
I don’t recall anyone picking PHX for #1 or maybe even top 4… How far did you have them go? They could very well break odds records this year. Shhh jinx.
I picked them to win it all
Guys trust me on this. Denver will take the series. When have I been wrong by the way? LOL just kidding. Please don’t check the tape, I’m not sure what you’ll find !!
And I told you all two weeks ago maybe three weeks ago, Brooklyn coming out of the East is the biggest no-brainer in the history of mankind.
Posting after gm 1… Wow. Micl.Porter was all off-balance shooting and there was nobody else to pass to. Suns look to have a talent difference… even at reserve PG where they have Cam Payne and Monte Morris went 1for10.
Smart players everywhere. Chris Paul dominated a couple minutes… He does not have to do that much… Cash-in city.
All you guys picking Phoenix here are looking real good. Denver is outmatched in this series. Nice job. But now what about Phoenix Utah? Very tough to call. Not sure who I have yet I’ll probably post next week on the relevant article.
But I came here to an older post to say nice job to the guys who picked Phoenix.