Throughout the first-half of Game 1 between the Denver Nuggets and Phoenix Suns, there was not much separating these two top NBA teams as Denver held a 58-57 halftime lead, but the second-half of this game was all Phoenix. The Suns outscored the Nuggets 65-47 in the second-half to win Game 1 and take a 1-0 series lead. 

From Nikola Jokic making plays on both ends of the court for Denver, to Chris Paul having his best game since injuring his shoulder in the Suns’ first-round series against the Lakers, to the fans in Phoenix Suns Arena bringing a ton of energy, Game 1 of this series had everything we had hoped for and then some! 

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The Suns’ starters outscored the Nuggets’ 99-76 in this game and Phoenix had four guys score 20+ points. Mikal Bridges, Deandre Ayton, Devin Booker and Chris Paul all went for 20+ points in the Suns’ Game 1 victory, which was a big reason why they were able to “throw” the first punch in this series. 

Phoenix found themselves trailing for most of the first-half in this game and were down 10 at one point in the third quarter, but then some shots started to fall in succession of each other and the Suns never looked back. 

With Denver expected to make some key adjustments ahead of Game 2, the Suns will have to turn their focus immediately to the rest of this series because this was merely a battle that they won. The rest of this series is surely going to be a war and given that the Nuggets have barely lost back-to-back games this year, and have yet to do so in the postseason, Phoenix will have to be dialed in and focused like they were in the second-half of Game 1 in order to hold their home court advantage. 

Now, let’s dive right into our Game 1 recap and take a look at the three biggest takeaways from this first game between the Denver Nuggets and Phoenix Suns in the Western Conference Semifinals.