Even though they traveled to Arizona sitting in the driver’s seat, Michael Malone remains not fully convinced yet of the Denver Nuggets’ early 2-0 edge against the Phoenix Suns on their Western Conference Semifinals set.
For Malone, they got no point in celebrating and getting too confident early as the series still offers that chance for the Suns to make a necessary bounce-back performance.
“Everybody was so excited that we’re up 2-0 because the Suns going into the second round were the favorites to come out of the West,” Malone said, per The Denver Post’s Parker Gabriel. “I don’t want our guys thinking we’ve done anything. All we’ve done is hold serve. We’re supposed to win two games at home. I’m not celebrating. We haven’t done anything yet. You don’t win a series in two games.
“My mantra to our players is, ‘We’ll do something if we go down there and win Game 3, all right? Now we’re talking.’”
Even though they were perceived as the underdogs entering the second round with the Suns, the Nuggets relied on their home-court advantage and smothering defense to own the momentum of the series so far.
Back in Game 1 victory, they went on to lean on Jamal Murray’s electrifying 34-point explosion. And in the last Game 2, amid the offensive struggles of the majority, Nikola Jokic emerged supreme with his all-around display, with the Denver defensive wings also performing successfully to pin down Kevin Durant on an inconsistent outing.
As Chris Paul is set to be out on a day-to-day basis because of his groin strain, Malone insisted that they still have to approach the following games with that same sharpness, especially by overpowering both Durant and Devin Booker, who are expected to elevate their game without the presence of the future Hall of Famer.
“We’ve got to do what we do,” Malone said. “Whether it’s Chris Paul, Cameron Payne, Landry Shamet, our game plan remains the same. We know that they have two guys in Devin Booker and Kevin Durant that are great players and they’ll have their home crowd in front of them.
“Down 2-0, we’re going to get their best effort and we have to exceed that.”
