On the morning of May 2, Beijing time, the Suns will continue to challenge the Nuggets on the road, and the Suns are currently trailing 0-1, and after the last fiasco, the Suns urgently need to find a way to adjust. What should the Suns start with if they want to equalize the big score? At both ends of the offensive and defensive ends, the sun has a lot of room for adjustment.
Ayton hardened
Ayton scored 14 points and 7 rebounds on 7-of-11 shooting in his last game, and looking at his counterpoint with Jokic, Jokic faced Ayton on only 5-of-13 shooting, as if Ayton was playing well. But anyone who watched the game could feel that Ayton was very "soft".
Ayton's defensive dismantling is difficult to balance ball carriers and coverers, which is a matter of ability. However, Ayton allowed Jokic to frantically fight for rebounds to steal 8 offensive rebounds, which is Ayton's attitude problem, and his awareness and enthusiasm to protect rebounds on the court are very poor.
In the middle of the two games, the Suns watched a lot of video and made targeted adjustments, and Ayton had to pull the enthusiasm first, try to jam every turn, grab the rebound, and do this well before Ayton had a chance to turn over.
Optimize lineup rotation
In the first game, the Suns were somewhat tentative, not that the Suns felt confident and had a high tolerance rate, but Monty Williams had not yet figured out how to line up the most suitable. But after the first one, Monty should have some enlightenment. Samet the shooter can no longer be used.
In the last game, Murray exploded, and he didn't take much advantage against the Suns' main player, but he gave something to Shamet, and every time Shamet was present, Murray named Shamet. Shamet played only 14 minutes, and the Suns scored 15 points, completely cultivating Murray's touch. In the playoffs, this kind of single-role pure shooter is really of little use.
The outside core trio made some more threes
The Suns have never been a team that shoots a lot of three-pointers, and their mid-range shooting percentage has increased since Durant joined, and their three-point shooting percentage has further declined. The problem is that the Suns themselves are not a team that is good at attacking the basket, they can't play the Nuggets' interior defensive weaknesses, in which case if they don't shoot more three-pointers, the Nuggets will only pile up defensive strength in the mid-range, and the Suns will have difficulty opening the situation in the mid-range where they are good.
Like the last game, the Suns' shooting ratio is only 24%, the three-point shooting ratio is only 27%, and the proportion of mid-range shooting is as high as 49%, and the Nuggets know that your shooting points are in the middle distance, so you can naturally predict the response in advance.
The Suns have to create more empty three-point shots for Okogie and Craig, and they are the points that will be heavily vacated by the Nuggets. If they can't punish their opponents on the offensive end, the opponent will only recklessly let them go to pack Booker and help defend Durant. In addition, Paul will now be heavily emptied, and he will have to adjust his condition to seize the opportunity. Durant and Booker had to make additional three-point shots, and the two only made four combined three-point shots in the last game, which was obviously not enough.
Continue to test Murray and Gordon's touch
In fact, in the last game, when role players such as Shamet and Randale were not present, Murray and Gordon's firepower was not too fierce, and the Suns' entanglement of Murray did not have much to find fault with, at least from the tactical level, and there was no problem with Durant letting Gordon challenge his jump shot, but catching up with Gordon's good feeling, the Suns lost the bet. In the next game, the Suns can continue to challenge Murray's difficult shots and Gordon's outside touch. However, the Suns had to reduce Gordon and Murray's chances of misplacing defensive weaknesses.
Help Durant take the load off
In the series with the Clippers, Durant had too many rounds to play the role of bait in the bottom corner, which was a bit overkill. But in the first game with the Nuggets, Durant did too much work that was not suitable for him, such as breaking through with the ball, and the result was that Durant made 7 mistakes. The Suns, who are still in the run-in, have to find a way to create more easy scoring opportunities for Durant, and Gordon has not actually been able to limit Durant. If Durant's scoring production and assists improve and mistakes fall, the Suns can at least wrestle with the Nuggets offensively, not to defend or prevent, and they can't compare with the opposite.