How Jamal Murray and the Denver Nuggets dismantled the Suns in game one

Jamal Murray was right in game one when he yelled to the crowd “we’re ready for this.” It was true of their game plan coming into the game and appears to be true more broadly about their readiness to take the next, and perhaps final step towards becoming NBA champions.

In this film study deep dive I breakdown the key takeaways from the game including Denver’s defensive adjustments, the Jokic-Murray two man game, MPJ’s defense in isolation and help side, and much more.

The List

intro -0:00
Jokic-Murray PnR – 0:25
Murray setting up C Corner – 1:45
No fear of Phoenix’s secondary defenders – 3:00
Rub action to attack CP3 and others – 3:49
When Phoenix doesn’t switch ball screens – 6:20
MPJ help side defense – 7:20
Nuggets avoiding isolation – 7:52
Denver’s switch and recover scheme – 9:10
Malone out of timeout – 10:40
Phoenix’s terrible small ball option – 11:40
Other offense that may be available in game 2 – 13:20
Playing fast – 15:00
Jokic’s wrist – 15:40
Okogie flopping on screens – 16:40