The Suns had answers for the Nuggets’ runs, but the Nuggets had no answer for the Suns’ runs
The Denver Nuggets went on an 11-4 run to begin the game, a 10-3 run to begin the second quarter and a 12-3 run to begin the second-half, but all of these runs were answered by the Suns. Even though Denver started off hot in three of the four quarters of this game, Phoenix was able to fight their way back into the quarter and they never let the Nuggets get the upper-hand.
However, when Phoenix started getting going near the end of the third-quarter on a 25-7 run in the final 7 minutes of the third quarter, the Nuggets were not able to slow down the Suns on their home court in front of a solid out, deafening crowd.
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After their monster run to end the third quarter, Phoenix started the fourth quarter on a 14-6 run and all the momentum that Denver had earlier in the game was gone. They looked completely out of sync on both ends of the court and the Suns acted on this, attacking the Nuggets every chance they had on the offensive-end of the court and then playing physical with the Nuggets on the defensive-end of the court.
While they only turned the ball over twice in the fourth quarter, Denver started being passive offensively and they were taking the shots Phoenix wanted them to take instead of the high percentage looks they were getting in the first-half. This ultimately led to Denver’s demise in Game 1 and is why they did not have an answer for the Suns’ second-half run.
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It should be interesting to see what adjustment the Nuggets make heading into Game 2, specifically in terms of momentum shifts in this game. As mentioned before, Denver held the lead for almost all of the first-half and they were playing well early on in the second-half, but when things started clicking for the Suns, they looked lost out there on the court.
If Denver is going to have a shot at beating the Suns in this series, then they are going to have to do better at limiting the Suns’ runs and they need to come up with answers on how to get themselves back into the game. Both teams are going to go on runs in this series, but whoever responds the best to their opponent’s runs are going to come out victorious.
