Five keys to the Western semifinal
1- Jokic Factor
The most unbalancing element is undoubtedly the center and MVP candidate Nikola Jokic. Needless to say, the Suns don’t have a player like him who every night has a triple-double or at least a double-double.
In the two games Denver lost to Suns, at the end of the regular season, the ‘Joker’ was not on the court and that helped Phoenix tie the series winning 93-100 and 115-119, we repeat, both games without the two-time MVP winner.
With Jokic’s presence and contribution it was different. In the first two regular season games he had, in the first a triple-double of 41 points, 15 boards and 15 assists for the Nuggets 128-125 win in OT.
In the second, in which Chris Paul and Devin Booker did not play, the Nuggets won 126-96 with Jokic’s double figure of 21 points and 18 boards.
2- Kevin Durant and Devin Booker
The arrival of Kevin Durant has propelled the Suns as one of the great favorites to win the championship and for the series against Denver the small forward and the shooting guard will have to build a partnership on the court, as they did in the series against LA Clippers and command Phoenix’s offense.
3- Bench and rotation contribution
Coach Monty Williams’ (Suns) bench and rotation are slightly better than Michael Malone’s (Nuggets). However the contribution of the latter is usually greater.
In Phoenix’s 115-119 win, Coach Williams used seven bench players compared to only four for Malone.
The Suns bench, led by Torrey Craig contributed 29 units, while Denver’s bench totaled a combined 34, with Jeff Green as their leading scorer with 14 points.
4- Jamal Murray
If the Suns have in Booker the ideal partner for KD or the other way around, the Nuggets have in Canadian Jamal Murray the ‘Penguin’ of the ‘Joker’; that is, their best ally to do damage.
The shooting guard comes from a playoffs against the Wolves in which his ‘worst’ night was 18 points and nine assists; from there, he gave performances of 19, 24, 35 and 40 points for an average of 27.2 units per game.
5- Three-point shooting
Throughout the first round, it was clear that comebacks or games were defined by three-point shooting accuracy.
Although Suns and Denver don’t usually ‘abuse’ the outside shot as seen with Golden State Warriors or Boston Celtics, the three-point shot should not be overlooked in this series where spaces in the paint will be tight given the physical play of both contenders.
At this point, the Suns have a slight edge by averaging 40.7% from beyond the arc as a team to the Nuggets’ 38.9% from the same distance.
The prognostication is reserved for this evenly matched series, what is guaranteed is that its main players, KD, Booker, CP3, Jokic, Murray and Gordon are two of the best and most complete ‘Big Threes’ in the NBA.
