The Nuggets have had a good regular-season record in recent seasons, especially when they are fully healthy, and their regular season record has been at the top of the league, as was the case this season, they locked up the first place in the West early, and faced the Timberwolves in the first round of the playoffs, and won very easily.
However, because the playoff records of the past few seasons are really not good, so in the hearts of fans, many people have classified them as pseudo-strong teams, and many people have not taken the Nuggets, the first in the West, as a dish. People in the West are more concerned about the seemingly high-flying Lakers, the Suns with Durant, and who dies in the Warriors vs. Kings series.
Coming to today's G1 series with the Kings, the Nuggets showed good ability, and the two sides fought against each other as soon as the game started, and the Suns took advantage of Durant's efficiency in the first quarter to get a one-point advantage. In the second quarter, the Nuggets became more and more courageous, and the Suns' offense was greatly resisted, and the Nuggets won by 18 points in a single quarter, and directly took a 17-point advantage at halftime.
The exchange court returned, although the Suns' offense has picked up significantly, but the Nuggets' hand has remained good, Murray and Jokic inside and outside to help the Nuggets enter the final quarter with a 13-point advantage. The Nuggets, who had a clear advantage in the final quarter, have been firmly in control of the initiative on the court, and the Suns are not doing their best, they once retained the suspense of the game, but the Nuggets' wave of 14-0 in the final stage of the game directly sealed the victory, and finally the Nuggets defeated the Suns 125-107 to get the opening start of this series.
In this game, in the face of Ayton's inaction on the inside, Durant is really a father and a mother, while maintaining super efficiency on the offensive end, he has also done a very good job in rebounding and guarding, but the fly in the ointment is that this Durant looks a little rusty in terms of dominating the ball, and he scored 29 points, 14 rebounds and 3 blocks in the game, but there were 7 turnovers.
Booker also feels good today, shooting 10 of 19, getting 27 points, 4 rebounds and 8 assists, today Booker and Durant are intertwined on both ends of the offensive end, but the help given by others is actually relatively limited, especially Ayton, facing Jokic is very weak, in addition, in terms of rotation, the gap between the Suns and the Nuggets is still relatively obvious.
On the Nuggets' side, Murray broke out today, shooting 13 of 24, shooting 6 of 10 from three-pointers, cutting down 34 points, 5 rebounds and 9 assists, as the Nuggets' backcourt core, Murray's performance in the regular season was actually decent after the big injury, Averaged 20 points and 6.2 assists per game, but entering the playoffs, Murray fully showed his ability and completely played what people expected him to be, and since the playoffs, Murray has become the Nuggets' leading scorer, averaging 28.3 points per game and shooting 46.2% from three-point range!
Murray's confidence looked full after being fully fit, and Murray said after the game: "We're going to break the doubt, I've always missed the feeling of the playoffs and now I'm healthy Jamal. Murray, I've wanted to play like this since I was a kid, I enjoyed the cheers from the fans, it was a dream moment. ”
Jokic faced Ayton today and had a big advantage in position, whether it was in rebounding or individual scoring, Jokic suppressed the champion. Jokic shot 9-of-21 today for a double-double with 24 points, 19 rebounds and 5 assists.
Entering the playoffs, the opponent is still more targeted at Jokic, the opponent pays more attention to the connection between him and his teammates, Jokic's average assists per game has also slipped from 9.8 in the regular season to 8.3 today, but Jokic's personal scoring ability is guaranteed, and after the opponent paid too much attention to him, he also pulled out better personal offensive space for his teammates, and Murray's outbreak into the playoffs has something to do with this.
In addition, Jokic's projection into the playoffs looks extremely consistent, his three-point shooting rate has reached 50%, and he can shoot 2 three-pointers per game, which is very good in terms of efficiency and output. Can be inside and out, can pass and attack, and now Jokic looks more relaxed on the field after having a reliable helper like Murray.
After Murray became the main offensive point of the team in the playoffs, Jokic did not seem unhappy at all, but was happy for Murray and was willing to become the core of the team, after today's game, Jokic said when talking about Murray: "Murray played too well today, he showed his ability, he is the best player on our team, and we are willing to follow in his footsteps." ”
From Jokic's speech, we can see that the Nuggets are really good in the team right now, and two-time MVPs are willing to follow in the footsteps of their teammates, what an open-minded mindset. The Nuggets have been overlooked in the playoffs in recent seasons, and of course it's closely related to their past performances, but this season they're telling the outside world that you shouldn't continue to ignore the Nuggets.