Good defense is nice, but in game four against the Nuggets the Suns needed their offense
Nuggets #Nuggets
Ask Suns coach Monty Williams what he had for lunch, and chances are he’ll find a way to weave defense into the answer. That’s how much he emphasizes it, preaches its virtues and obsesses over it.
And only a fool doubts its importance. The ability to play it well is why this Suns team might be better and tougher than any other in franchise history.
But the game is still about scoring. Former Suns coach Cotton Fitzsimmons could preach a little bit, too, and he often reminded reporters “you can’t have too many shooters.”
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The current Suns have them. And on Sunday in Denver, when the Suns played the worst defense since early in the Lakers series, they needed them. Or, at least two of them.
Devin Booker and Chris Paul lifted the Suns out of harm’s way time and again and were the main reasons the Suns closed the Western Conference semifinal with a 125-118 victory over the Nuggets.
The Suns will need to better defensively going forward, and their performance through much of these playoffs suggests they will be.
Their next opponent, either the Clippers or Jazz, are more diverse offensively than the Nuggets, who are severely limited with guard Jamal Murray on the bench with a knee injury.
On Sunday, they survived a defensive dip, and a minor offensive explosion by the Nuggets with their offense.
Paul scored 37 points on 14 of 19 shooting. Booker scored 34. And the Suns made 29 of 32 free throws.
Booker, Williams said was “fearless,” and Paul “darn near perfect,” all game. “He scored the ball, managed the clock.” And whenever Denver adjusted defensively, Paul met with Williams and they adjusted, too, such as moving the pick-and-roll game more to the middle of the court.
“He’s just an unbelievable players,” Williams said, “but more than that, it’s his will to win.”
Every time the Nuggets threatened, the Suns countered in the same way. Either Booker or Paul used a screen to get inside 15 feet.
They were usually wide open, partly because Michael Porter, Jr., showed no interest in switching. And Nikola Jokic plays too close to the rim to help. And they usually made the shot.
Paul’s shot chart showed so many made shots from the right side, rarely deeper than the free-throw line, that it threatened to look like one huge dot.
But the Nuggets, even with Jokic in the locker room after being ejected in the third quarter, hung around and trailed by just six with five minutes remaining.
Booker said the Suns had trouble adjusting to Jokic’s absence because the defensive plan in the previous three games was “cut the head off the snake” by trying to limit Jokic.
The Suns looked shaky and Williams called timeout. His team was in need of calming and a good play coming out of the timeout.
They got both.
Phoenix moved the ball around and it eventually found its way to Paul. Smart move. He drove to the basket, and his path was cleared by a back screen by Booker. Paul made the layup, was fouled and then acknowledged Booker’s dirty work.
The three-point play by Booker gave the Suns a 9-point lead and another Paul layup boosted it to 11.
The Suns left Denver Sunday night with everything Williams could want.
Health, first of all, which shouldn’t be taken for granted, as if we witnessed when Paul suffered a shoulder/neck injury in game one against the Lakers.
Second, a sweep, The Suns are two for two in close out games in this postseason, an impression and an especially important development because it appears Utah and the Clippers are going to be on each other for awhile.
It will be a week or so before the Suns play again. “Everybody at this point is banged up and can use that type of recovery,” Williams said.
Third, things to work on The Suns didn’t play especially well on Sunday, especially defensively. Their attention waned at times. They allowed Denver to maintain life, and hope, for far too long.
Williams and his staff are likely to harp long and loud about that in the days to come.
Defense travels, Williams like to say, but it apparently departed Denver a day early. The offense stayed. The two need to be reunited if the Suns are going to advance to the NBA Finals for the first time in 28 years.
Reach Kent Somers at Kent.Somers@gannett.com. Follow him on twitter @kentsomers. Hear Somers every Monday and Friday at 7:30 a.m. on The Drive with Jody Oehler on Fox Sports 910 AM
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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Good defense is nice, but in game four against the Nuggets the Suns needed their offense