We're about to find out what these Nuggets are really made of

PHOENIX — Michael Malone can predict the future. At least when it comes to his basketball team.

“We’ve had no adversity in the postseason, yet,” Malone said an hour and a half before Denver and Phoenix tipped off Friday night in Game 3 of their first-round series. “Things have gone really, really smooth. And adversity is coming. It’s knocking on the door, and we have to be ready for that. Knowing our guys, I know they will be.”

Well, playoff adversity finally came for Denver just as Malone predicted it would. But it didn’t politely knock on the proverbial door. It barged through without asking for permission. That’s what the Suns’ 121-114 Game 3 win over the Nuggets felt like. It was a stark and stern reminder from Devin Booker, who went for 47 points on 20-25 shooting in an individual performance that you could only describe as near-perfect, and Kevin Durant on behalf of the team that was the favorite to win the Western Conference heading into the playoffs.

“Our guys understood that this wasn’t going to be a sweep,” Malone said postgame. “We weren’t just going to beat the Phoenix Suns 4-0. There’s a reason that everybody’s picking this team to come out of the Western Conference.”

Now, this series gets good. Up 2-1 with a chance to put the Suns on life support on Sunday in Game 4 and head back to Denver with a 3-1 lead, now we find out what the Nuggets are really made of. Adversity is here, and now we get to see how Denver responds.

They should rise to the occasion if we think we know what this team is made of, because this is a team that always responds in the face of adversity. This is a team that always bounces back. Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray know how to show up in the playoffs. Whether it was in the 2020 bubble, when the duo led the Nuggets back from a pair of 3-1 series deficits, or in the first round against Minnesota, they always punch back.

“This team always responds,” said Malone. “It’s just in our nature.”

But the Nuggets will have to be better to beat the Suns on Sunday, and that includes Murray.

Murray took the blame for the Nuggets’ Game 3 loss. “I put that on me,” he said around 40 minutes after the final buzzer sounded Friday. Murray tallied a team-high 32 points in Game 3 on 13-29 shooting but went only 1-6 from 3-point range. He’s now 1-15 from 3 in his last two playoff games. In a pressure-packed second half, Murray shot 6-15. In the fourth quarter, he shot just 1-8.

Many of Murray’s Game 3 shot attempts were quality looks. But some weren’t.

“I’m just taking what the defense gives me, and trying to make a play,” Murray said.

This was Malone’s response when asked about Murray’s night.

“Jamal was really trying to carry the team tonight. He got off to a tremendous start,” Malone said. “He’s garnering so much attention out there, and I think when we watch the film he’ll be able to see it. He’s doing his job. He’s got two defenders on him at times, and that’s where he’s just got to trust his teammates and maybe get off that ball. Because I think a huge part of their game plan is to somehow, some way slow down Jamal Murray and force him into tough shots.”

These are tough looks, but also ones Murray can make. The Nuggets even crashed the offensive glass and scored on a couple of those possessions. But Denver can get better shots than these against this Suns’ defense. That’s the tricky balance here. They can spread it around more.

The Nuggets’ defense of course is the No. 1 item on Malone’s to-do checklist in terms of what his team has to clean up ahead of Sunday’s Game 4. Booker did not feel Denver’s defense at all on Friday. Murray said the Nuggets were “discombobulated” when it came to defending Booker. Jokic said the Nuggets played in the first quarter like they were asleep and Booker was able to find a rhythm and explode from there.

However, the Nuggets’ offense can use some fine-tuning too, and Game 3 felt like a rare instance where Denver’s attack was tilted off its axis. It was slanted too much to Murray and not enough to Jokic and the rest of the Nuggets’ offensive options.

During a fourth quarter that while watching it live felt like it was dominated by Murray, I thought back to Jokic’s comments from the end of the Timberwolves series and the beginning of this one. Jamal “is our best player,” Jokic has said twice during these playoffs. Murray played Game 3 like he was trying to fill the shoes of the Nuggets’ “best player,” even though we know — and I think Jokic knows — that Murray’s not.

This is still Jokic’s team. He still needs to be the fulcrum of everything the Nuggets do, even though Denver as a team has taken on Murray’s personality in these playoffs. The Nuggets fear no one. They’re incredibly confident in themselves and what they can do. Like Murray, they’re not surprised with how well they’ve played in the postseason.

But the Nuggets are being tested for the first time in these playoffs. Now’s the time for them to remember the team they are at their core.