The Denver Nuggets had a statement win tonight as they dominated the Phoenix Suns to the tune of 125-107 to capture game one. Thanks to a Murray flurry in the fourth quarter on top of some great play from players like Nikola Jokic and Aaron Gordon, the Nuggets found a way to dominate game one and put a big time win together they can build on for the rest of the series.
Murray — who went on a tear in the fourth quarter en route to his 34 point, nine assist, and five rebound performance — was massive and continued his trend of stellar play that we saw in the opening series against Minnesota. Murray did all that on 13-of-24 shooting from the field, 6-of-10 from beyond the arc as the Blue Arrow continues to terrorize teams in the postseason. Murray’s running mate (Jokic) also had a really solid night scoring 24 points to go along with a blistering 19 rebounds. The Suns had zero answers of how to slow down Murray and Jokic and if that doesn’t change Phoenix is going to be in trouble for the rest of the series.
Gordon also had a big night for the Nuggets as he scored 23 points on an extremely efficient 9-of-13 shooting from the field, 3-of-4 from beyond the arc. Gordon was playing bully ball with the Suns all game long and Phoenix had no answers of how to slow down the Nuggets talented forward. If Gordon can keep up his play for the remainder of the series it’s going to be a real difference maker for Denver.
Bruce Brown (14), Michael Porter Jr. (11), and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope (10) all scored in double-figures as well and helped Denver secure the victory. As for Phoenix, they got 29 points from Kevin Durant and 27 points from Devin Booker, but still the Nuggets found a way to win in convincing fashion.
Hopefully the Nuggets can repeat what they did tonight in game two as they’ll look to take a commanding lead before the series heads back to Phoenix later next week. Game two is Monday night in Denver with tip-off set for 8PM MST.
