The Phoenix Suns will have a chance to sweep Denver Nuggets on Sunday night, when these two teams meet for Game 4.
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A 116-102 victory over the Denver Nuggets on Friday meant the Phoenix Suns took a 3-0 lead in their second-round series. For the first time since 2010, they are looking like making the finals.
☀️ 28 for @DevinBook
☀️ 27 for @CP3
☀️ 3-0 lead for @SunsGame 4 – Sunday, 8 PM ET, TNT#ThatsGame #NBAPlayoffs pic.twitter.com/rw3SrNi7fy
— NBA (@NBA) June 12, 2021
Phoenix’s stars Devin Booker and Chris Paul led the way with 55 combined points, but it was a team-wide domination of the Nuggets as the Suns as a whole shot over 46 percent from three-point land and 53 percent from the field. Nikola Jokic tried valiantly to give his team a chance, but despite 32 points, 20 rebounds and 10 assists, his Nuggets came up well short.
Nikola Jokic goes off for the the 3rd 30+ point, 20+ rebound, 10+ assist triple-double in #NBAPlayoffs history. ?
32 PTS
20 REB
10 AST pic.twitter.com/q8MnTd057M— NBA (@NBA) June 12, 2021
If the Suns struggled in one area tonight, it was on the glass. Denver pulled in a staggering 18 offensive rebounds. The Suns had only four. The gap between these teams was so big that it didn’t matter.
The Suns are doing so much right at the moment that no single weakness needs to be glaring. Phoenix was roughly a league-average rebounding team in the regular season. But every little flaw counts as teams advance into the postseason.
? ISO BOOK deep in his bag on ESPN ?#ThatsGame #NBAPlayoffs pic.twitter.com/ciaZPVPpIc
— NBA (@NBA) June 12, 2021
Denver paid handsomely to acquire Aaron Gordon at the deadline. They gave up a first-round pick, a promising young prospect R.J. Hampton to secure the forward. The move looked great when Denver was at full strength. In Game 2 of this series he was held to just six points, he shot 2 of 10 from the field.
When the Nuggets had Jamal Murray and a fully healthy Will Barton, defenses couldn’t track Gordon off of the ball because they didn’t have the resources to do so. It took too much to cover Murray, Jokic and Michael Porter Jr. But with Denver so weakened by injuries, Phoenix had an easier time keeping track of Gordon. It essentially turned Jae Crowder into an extra rim-protector on Friday.
— Denver Nuggets (@nuggets) June 12, 2021
Gordon was acquired to do very specific things on a very specific roster. Now that the roster has changed, he’s being put in a position where his weaknesses are magnified.
Due to the injuries, they’ve fundamentally changed everything about how this roster functions.
The Suns will have a chance to sweep Denver on Sunday, when these two teams meet for Game 4.
