For many, they are the new favorites for the title after the Bucks’ road trip, but the current Suns have a life together with Kevin Durant who remain reduced to ten matches, and when they challenge the Nuggets with a solid collective, they take a lot of money. Last night, there was a class gap between the Nuggets and the Suns, and in all areas: aggressiveness, defense, ball circulation…
“Am I surprised? By the Nuggets? Of course not ! There’s a reason they finished first in the West, with a two-time MVP in their ranks.” answers Kevin Durant in a press conference. “They have a strong squad. So, no, I’m not surprised. »
Durant’s mea culpa
Author of a good first half, Kevin Durant is the first to make his mea culpa after this rout. “I only made one pass and I lost 7 balls. You can’t win a game like that. I have to pay more attention to the ball.” Durant continues. “We’ll watch the video tomorrow, and see what we can improve to give ourselves a better chance of winning. But just looking at the stat sheet, I can’t lose 7 balls, and they can’t take 17 more shots than us. I almost lost half of our stray bullets. We will get out of this. You just have to play with confidence, shoot with confidence and see what happens in the next game. »
Durant therefore also evokes collective bankruptcy with 101 shots for the Nuggets, and 84 for the Suns, or the 16 offensive rebounds for Denver, against 8 in Phoenix. “They also took 37 3-point shots and we took 23. They took 16, we took 7” he lists. “It’s a sport where you either score or you miss. We can talk about different things like defensive withdrawal or making the extra pass, but when we take more shots than the opponent, we give ourselves more chances to win the match, and that’s what they have. do. »
An anti-Murray plan in preparation?
What does his coach, Monty Williams think? “They were more physical and they played with more conviction, especially in the second quarter. This is where we lost momentum. And there is the difference in possessions. Losses of balls and offensive rebounds destroyed us tonight. »
Finally, there is the case of Jamal Murray, a real poison for the defense of the Suns. By easily passing Chris Paul and being active on the transmissions, the Canadian was the big man of this Game 1. “To be honest, I don’t think anyone could have stopped him on some of his shots tonight,” concludes Williams about Murray. “But we have to do something a little different in our patterns to stop him getting the ball or taking it away from his hands. »
