![]() They also distributed 19 assists for this contest in addition to forcing the opposition into 9 turnovers and having 5 steals. When talking about defending, Denver allowed their opponent to shoot 40.0% from the floor on 38 out of 95 shooting. Phoenix distributed 23 assists and had 2 steals for the contest. Moreover, Phoenix collected 39 rebounds (11 offensive, 28 defensive) and got 6 blocks. Phoenix ended up shooting 100.0% at the charity stripe by converting 5 of their 5 attempts. ![]() They knocked down 6 out of their 31 tries from beyond the perimeter. When discussing personal fouls, the Nuggets ended up finishing with 16 and the Suns totaled 25 personal fouls. I like the value on them to close it out on the road as the underdogs and I’d keep an eye on the Action Network NBA odds page as this price varies from book to book.The Nuggets took home the win by a score of 97-87 in Game 2. The Nuggets have proven to be the fundamentally better team through five games. ![]() When Jokic plays with that level of assertiveness the Nuggets are nearly unbeatable in my opinion and I expect that same level of urgency from him tonight. Nikola Jokic has established himself as the best player in the world and in Game 5 he looked like he was completely unwilling to lose from the jump. Outside of two historic shooting performances from Devin Booker, the Nuggets have consistently gotten cleaner looks and their offense has many more weapons to go to than the Suns. ![]() I would have to pick the Nuggets on the moneyline here as they have been a consistently better team in all four factors for this entire series. His player prop overs could be an interesting look as they could be priced at a discount after Landale playing just 13 minutes in Game 5. Landale in particular is a player I would highlight as he has had a much higher Net-Rating than Deandre Ayton all series long. I expect the Suns to allocate much more minutes to Jock Landale, Warren, Ross, and Shamet as they really start to get desperate in this must win situation. The Suns will need to continue to surround Durant and Booker with offensive talent in order to create space for them to operate. In Game 5, the Suns’ shooters came back down to earth as they shot just 37.5% on 3s after shooting 44.8% in Game 4. We saw this counter work effectively in Game 4 when Shamet erupted for 19 points on 5-of-8 shooting from deep. Having Landry Shamet, Terrence Ross, or TJ Warren in the corner compared to Josh Okogie or Torrey Craig is a world of difference in terms of shooting gravity. The Nuggets have been corralling the ball when Durant and Booker are in isolation or pick-and-roll and the Suns have countered by putting legitimate spacers in the corners in these situations. Expect the Nuggets to funnel Booker and Durant into help as they try and make their mid-range jump shots as difficult as possible. If Booker and Durant shoot unprecedented rates, the Nuggets are going to have to live with it as the Suns have finally started putting spacers on the floor around them. The Nuggets have to continue this process of limiting rim-looks and contesting the 2s to their best of their ability. The Suns posted a 59% Rim Rate and 3-Point Rate in Game 4, but that dropped to just 49% in Game 5. Jokic is a generational offensive player, but he still needs his teammates to make shots if the Nuggets want to advance to the Western Conference finals.ĭefensively, the Nuggets did a much better job of forcing the Suns back into tough mid-range 2-pointers after going away from that a little bit in Game 4. Porter Jr., Jamal Murray, and Aaron Gordon taking some pressure off of Jokic will continue to be the key for this Nuggets offense Thursday night. looked perfectly comfortable hitting his looks as he shot 7-of-11 from the field and 5-of-8 from deep after struggling mightily on the road in Games 3 and 4. As long as their role players knock down open shots, they appear to be unstoppable on offense. The Nuggets are consistently generating great looks when they play through Jokic. The two-time MVP had 29 points, 13 rebounds, and 12 assists on 60% shooting from the field in Game 5. This is the offense we have grown accustomed to seeing all season and it’s apparent the Suns have no substantive answers for Nikola Jokic. The Nuggets were humming on offense in Game 5 and finished with a 125.0 Offensive Rating behind an elite 58.6% Effective Field Goal Percentage, and a terrific 9.8% Turnover Rate.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |