How Kentavious Caldwell-Pope finally silenced Devin Booker

It didn’t take long to figure out the Nuggets’ defensive game plan on Devin Booker in Game 5.

A Booker elbow leading to a Kentavious Caldwell-Pope bloody lip 60 seconds into the first quarter set the tone on Tuesday night.

“I felt like in Games 3 and 4 we weren’t physical enough,” Caldwell-Pope told DNVR after the Nuggets’ convincing 118-102 win to take a 3-1 series lead over the Suns. “We weren’t into their space or making it tough for them. Tonight, we really just wanted to be more physical. That’s how we wanted to play this game.

The scheme Denver deployed on Booker in Game 5 was hatched by Caldwell-Pope, his teammates, and coaching staff in what Michael Malone described as an “interactive” film session after the Nuggets’ Game 4 loss. The Nuggets ran through film of Booker dissecting their defense from every angle in Phoenix. Denver’s key takeaway from Booker’s 36-point performance on 14-18 shooting in Game 4? He got everything too easily. The Nuggets let him get too comfortable. There were just too many instances of Booker walking the ball up the floor, waltzing into every action, and pummelling Denver’s defense without much resistance.

The Nuggets wanted to be more physical in Game 5. They wanted Booker to feel them. They wanted, for once, to tire Booker out and make him work for everything.

“Let’s be an irritant,” said Michael Malone.

Central to that game plan was Caldwell-Pope, who has taken on the Booker assignment before but wanted the matchup again. Caldwell-Pope knew he could defend Booker better than he has in the series and in Game 5 debuted a new tactic designed to tire him out: A full-court press.

“That was my call,” Caldwell-Pope told DNVR about picking Booker up full-court for most of Game 5. “I wanted to just lock in defensively because he’s averaging almost 40 this series. He’s been ridiculous. We know he’s going to get his shots. He’s going to make tough shots. But for 48 minutes we wanted to keep that pressure on him and keep that physicality.”

Even if that physicality meant Caldwell-Pope had to play with a bloody lip for the majority of Game 5.

The results spoke for themselves. Caldwell-Pope, who was awarded the Nuggets’ Defensive Player of the Game Chain for his defense in Game 5, helped hold Booker to 28 points on 8-19 (42.1%) shooting. It was the first time in 10 playoff games that Booker shot below 47%. Booker eventually tired. Finally. Caldwell-Pope was able to wear him out by sporadically picking him up 94 feet.

“We wanted to make it tough on him the whole game,” Caldwell-Pope told DNVR. “We don’t him to see easy shots or layups go in. When he gets into the lane, foul him hard a couple of times, and let him know that we’re still here. It’s not going to be easy. He’s a tough cover. The more physical we can be, the more we can wear him down throughout the game. That’s good for us.”

The Nuggets’ defense set the tone in Game 5, then Nikola Jokic finished the job. After scoring 10 points on 4-11 shooting in the first half, Jokic tallied 17 of Denver’s 39 third-quarter points on 7-8 shooting in a momentum-turning 12 minutes. He finished with 29 points, 13 rebounds, and 12 assists and passed Wilt Chamberlain for most playoff triple-doubles for a center. Jokic has four triple-doubles in these playoffs. No one else in the postseason has more than one.

“He must be stat padding,” Malone joked.

Per @ESPNStatsInfo, Nikola Jokic is the eighth player in NBA history to have 10 career playoff triple-doubles and the first center. pic.twitter.com/L3OOAv1ZEO

— Tim MacMahon (@espn_macmahon) May 10, 2023

After holding the Suns to 102 points on 43.2% shooting, the Nuggets moved to within one victory of their second Western Conference Finals berth in four years.

There’s no sugarcoating what was at stake Tuesday at Ball Arena. With the series tied at 2-2, this was the most important game of the Jokic era. Full stop. A win and Denver has the inside track on another Conference Finals appearance where their likely opponent is the seventh-seeded Lakers. A loss and the Nuggets are one defeat away from what would be looked at as a disappointing season. With what’s going on in the East — the 76ers and an injured Joel Embiid have the Celtics on the brink of elimination — the Suns right now look like the toughest team Denver will face in these playoffs.

The Nuggets and Malone came through when it mattered.

After all the chatter over the last 48 hours regarding potential changes to the Nuggets’ bench rotation, Malone stuck with his same three go-to reserves: Bruce Brown, Christian Braun, and Jeff Green. And the second unit was fine. The Nuggets were only outscored by two points with Jokic on the bench in Game 5. But let’s not act like Denver’s coach sat on his hands and rolled out the same game plan from Game 4. He made adjustments, contrary to what the Twitter coaches will tell you.

The Nuggets mixed up their coverages more on Booker and Kevin Durant. The double teams that Denver sent both Booker and Durant’s way were more unpredictable than in Games 3 and 4. Aaron Gordon and Michael Porter Jr. had successful defensive stretches while guarding the Suns’ scorers too. The Nuggets’ team defense also leveled up from where it was in Phoenix.

Caldwell-Pope’s physicality in the opening minute of Tuesday’s win sent a message to Booker that Game 5 was going to be different. The Nuggets hope the rest of the series follows suit.

“I love playing in these types of 1-on-1 matchups,” Caldwell-Pope told DNVR regarding the Booker assignment. “It’s fun. It’s like, ‘Let’s have fun.’ Your skills against my skills. I enjoy it. It’s just good competition. I love it.”