A Vintage Chris Paul Performance Against Denver Brought The Suns Within One Game Of the Conference Finals

The Denver Nuggets just don’t have an answer for the Phoenix Suns, and though we knew that heading into Game Three, it is obvious now, as Denver couldn’t even muster enough to win on Friday night, instead falling down 3-0 and facing a potential sweep this weekend.

After a 116-102 loss — one in which we finally saw a more assertive Nikola Jokic and a bounceback game from Monte Morris — there is little hope for the Nuggets in the series. They just cannot contain a Suns offense that is gelling at the perfect time and creating open three after open three no matter what Denver does.

Despite a monster 32-20-10 triple-double from Jokic, the Nuggets fell behind by 16 early in the game and never took the lead. Morris, who had been cold all series, answered the call with 21 points on 8-12 shooting, but it wasn’t enough. Phoenix capitalized on every mistake they made (the Nuggets had 14 turnovers) and played dominant basketball on both ends.

Devin Booker had 24 through three quarters before Chris Paul took over in the fourth, as he has all series. In a scary sight for the rest of the eight teams remaining in the NBA playoffs, Paul put up a postseason-high 27 points to go along with eight assists and six rebounds. A vintage Paul performance signals he’s healthy after a suffering right shoulder contusion in the first round — and rearing to go with a second trip to the Conference Finals in his sights.

Though Jokic was incredible as always, and came out looking for his in addition to passes like this:

Denver is approaching the end of a season marred by injuries. Game Four is on Sunday at 8 p.m. ET, where Phoenix will look to close out the Nuggets and earn some extra rest before the Western Conference Finals.