How Jamal Murray Dissected The Phoenix Suns In Game 1

Any sports fan can appreciate a comeback story.

When an athlete goes down with an unfortunate injury and is sidelined for two full playoff runs, missing 555 days of action, everyone in the sports community wants to see them make a full recovery.

ACL surgery is a no easy hurdle to come back from, and it usually takes two calendar years until an NBA player is fully comfortable. You’ll see glimpses of greatness in-between those moments, but returning to their pre-injury production and explosiveness on a consistent level is something that requires time … and patience. From everyone.

Well, Jamal Murray is finally back to his playoff magic.

The world never got a chance to see the sequel to his unbelievable scoring run in the 2020 bubble. For young stars who finally get a taste of playoff success and prove they can solve various defensive coverages, like he did versus the Jazz and Clippers that year, they often use those experiences as a launching pad to something greater.

Missing the 2021 and 2022 playoffs was agonizing for Murray on a personal level. He was forced to watch his teammates battle with undermanned squads, unable to take the pressure off Nikola Jokić and provide the scoring threat Denver needed in postseason action. When defenses tighten up and take away your pet actions, teams need as much offensive juice and off-the-dribble creation as possible. For the Nuggets, that has always been Murray’s calling card.

If these first six games are simply the introduction to the sequel, we’re in for a treat.

After scoring 34 points in Denver’s Game 1 win over the Phoenix Suns, Murray is averaging 28.3 points and 6.8 assists on 61.3% true shooting to begin the 2023 playoffs.

He shot 7-of-14 from two and 6-of-10 from deep to bury Phoenix in the series opener, annihilating every defensive look they threw his way.

“He’s a bad man,” Nuggets head coach Michael Malone said. “I mean, Jamal Murray lives for this. I tell you what, the last two years have been tough not having him. Two years ago, we got swept by (Phoenix) in the second round and last year, we lost to the eventual world champions in the first round. When Jamal is healthy and locked and loaded, we know what he’s capable of. It’s just been fun to watch him perform at the level he’s performing at.”

The last time this Nuggets group was fully intact, they advanced to the West Finals and were a couple shots away from a long series against the Lakers, who ultimately won the title.

This team is better and more seasoned. And their point guard is reading the game at a higher level than before.

Murray and the Nuggets posted a 130.2 offensive rating in Game 1 before the Suns emptied their bench and waived the white flag. It only ranked 14th in terms of the most efficient games Denver has played offensively this year, which is a surprise considering how it felt.

The Nuggets came out and set the tone by highlighting the weak links in the Suns’ defense, proving their pick-and-roll attack should be considered more of a threat than Phoenix’s due to the shot quality they can generate (shocker: Threes are more valuable than twos).

Phoenix is facing a larger challenge in this round, especially if they can’t keep Denver off the boards and continue to disregard the math problem they’re facing. With the Nuggets grabbing 42.6% of the available offensive rebounds in Game 1 (league average this season was roughly 22%), it led to a massive discrepancy in shot attempts. Denver had 17 more opportunities, a gap that is hard to overcome if you’re the team standing around watching it happen.

It was compounded by the aggressive defense for the Nuggets that forced turnovers and disrupted Kevin Durant all night. Denver loaded up any time Durant caught the ball or attacked the basket, bothering him with swipes and late doubles to cloud his vision and cut off his passing angles.

The ultimate backbreaker for the Suns, however, was being outscored 48-21 from beyond the 3-point arc. Surrendering that many points from deep (a 27-point gap in a game decided by 18) without so much as trying to match them in attempts is not a winning formula. Phoenix was able to survive in the first round with a 24.3% attempt rate from 3-point range, but it was against a Clippers unit that didn’t have the individual star power or pull-up shooting to scare them.

That’s not going to fly against Denver.

But you have to credit the Nuggets’ defense for containing the Suns at the point of attack. Their bigs played at the level of the screen in pick & roll sets, rarely got put into deep rotation on the backside, and kept the ball in front. When you defend the pick & roll two-on-two without needing help from the weakside, it makes life simpler.

“First of all, you can sit here and make excuses about what we didn’t do … they beat us,” Suns head coach Monty Williams said. “That’s something you have to address right away. They did some things that took us out of certain coverages and plays. So you have to respect that. It forces you to go back to the lab and make some adjustments.”

On both ends of the floor, Denver outplayed them. They were the aggressors and forced Phoenix to react to them.

It’s often mentioned by players and coaches that Game 1 in any series is a ‘feel out’ game, where both teams can assess how they are being guarded, what the opposing coach is trying to take away, and what degree of physicality your opponent is going to bring.

The first quarter of Game 1 was the epitome of a feel-out moment, with both Denver and Phoenix trading blows in the opening 12 minutes and largely getting to their spots with ease.

We didn’t have to wait long to see how the Suns were prepared to defend ball-screens with Murray as the handler. Ideally, both of these teams want to encourage the same thing (mid-range looks) while also staying away from switching their bigs (Ayton and Jokić) onto perimeter scorers.

Murray thrives in these environments because he doesn’t care what you’re trying to ‘give up’ or what the defense is willing to allow. As a dynamic guard that can attack any coverage, he’ll hunt for the shot he wants.

That was evident on this side pick-and-roll with Jokić, as the Nuggets cleared the strong-side corner and went directly at Ayton. Typically in drop coverage, the guard defender chases the ball-handler around the screen and funnels them to the screener’s defender. On this possession, Murray comes off the screen wide and essentially forces Ayton to switch by maintaining his dribble. Once Murray sees that, it’s open season on step-back threes:

Early in the game, the Nuggets were trying to hunt Ayton and Chris Paul in these actions.

With Josh Okogie starting on Murray, the Nuggets’ counter was simply to bring CP3’s man up to screen, see if they can force a switch, and then go into the Murray-Jokić pick & roll from there.

Murray knows that if Jokić sets a great screen, which he does virtually every time, he’ll be able to occupy Ayton’s attention while attacking downhill. If the smaller (and slower) Paul is involved, there’s no real threat on the rearview contest:

He’s going to be a handful for the Suns to contain at the point of attack. They aren’t rich in defensive stoppers on the bench, either.

Poor Landry Shamet doesn’t stand much of a chance in the minutes Murray is on the floor, as the Nuggets will mercifully attack him. Murray’s ability to manipulate ball-screens was on display in Game 1 and he relished every opportunity at going at the defensively-challenged Shamet:

Once Murray got into a groove on Saturday, it didn’t matter who the primary defender was. As long as Phoenix was going to drop coverage, Murray could turn the corner and create any type of shot he wanted:

It’s that level of shot creation and efficiency the Nuggets’ offense has sorely missed in their last two playoff runs. Too much offensive burden was placed on Jokić in 2021 and 2022, and he wasn’t surrounded with guys that can hit ‘playoff level’ shots, which are often contested looks.

During this time of year, you do need players that can render a good defense useless on some possessions. Murray has that superpower in his bag, as does Michael Porter Jr. with his height and outside shooting.

Every time the Suns would make a run in Game 1, Murray would answer with a flurry of tremendous shotmaking and excellent reads out of the pick & roll. He was torching every defender on Saturday. Smalls, bigs, and lengthy wings. He gave all of them the business:

His nine assists shouldn’t fly under the radar. After getting the Suns’ attention by being aggressive as a scorer in those pick & roll sets, he would capitalize on his own gravity by delivering timely passes and stretching the defense further than it could handle.

What makes the Murray-Jokić two man action so lethal is how they can punish you in different ways. After hitting a jumper over Okogie on the previous possession, Murray decides to attack the paint on the very next play. If he fully engages Ayton, there’s a two-time MVP rolling down the lane where he’s one of the most efficient bigs ever:

Then, if the Suns turned it over — which they did on 17% of their possessions in Game 1 — Murray would apply pressure to the defense and find shooters after getting downhill:

When Murray flies off the Jokić screen above, Devin Booker is helping at the nail. It leaves Kentavious Caldwell-Pope with space on the wing. Notice the chemistry between him and Murray — KCP drifting toward the baseline creates this passing angle and makes it a tougher rotation or closeout for Booker. Murray didn’t even need to look as he whipped the pass to where KCP needed to be.

It certainly feels as if Denver has every piece they need to not only win this series, but represent the Western Conference in the NBA Finals. If Gordon is going to hit open threes and Bruce Brown is coming off the bench to knock down seven shots, that’s a lot for the thinner, non 3-point shooting Suns to overcome. Porter Jr. didn’t even have a great night offensively, and you have to expect him to get going from outside.

The Suns have to quickly realize they aren’t playing the Westbrook-led Clippers any longer. Denver’s offense prioritizes movement, with everyone ready to strike if you relax for one second. Their margin for error is much slimmer in this series.

If you botch a switch or take one misstep, a shooter will zoom into open space. Watch as Aaron Gordon cuts to the basket and takes both Durant and Okogie with him:

Phoenix will have to clean up these mistakes in the halfcourt and play with more attention to detail defensively.

At Suns practice the day after Game 1, everyone had a similar sentiment: Never let the same game beat you twice. Phoenix is a veteran team that loves to problem-solve in a difficult matchup. They have some of the smartest basketball minds in the league and the offensive talent to respond emphatically.

It will just come down to whether they make scheme adjustments on Murray, who appears to be the head of the snake in this matchup. If the Suns try getting more aggressive on ball-screens and attempt to force it out of his hands, the Nuggets will have more opportunities to create open shots in 4-on-3 scenarios.

Let’s see what Game 2 has in store.