The Suns must stop Jamal Murray before his first clean dribble turns into a Denver possession with teeth. One bounce settles him. Another lets him feel the angle. Then Nikola Jokić turns his shoulder at the elbow, and the trap begins to close.
Nothing about Murray’s best work feels rushed. He walks defenders into screens. He leans until their hips betray them. After that, he rises into a jumper with the calm of a man shooting alone in an empty gym.
Phoenix knows the Western Conference pain behind that sequence. The Suns have seen enough playoff possessions turn on one bad switch, one late tag, one corner shooter left alone because Jokić saw the floor half a second faster than everyone else.
This matchup will not reward noise. It will reward discipline. Phoenix has to crowd Murray’s rhythm, cut off his clean catches, and make every Denver set feel one second late.
The trap starts before the screen
Denver’s two-man game works because it forces defenders to choose before they feel ready.
Most teams make that choice too late. They drop toward the paint after Murray has already buried a pull-up. They send help after Jokić has already picked out the corner. And they switch after Murray has already seen the big man’s feet.
By then, the possession belongs to Denver.
NBA playoff data from Denver’s 2023 championship run shows Murray carving through the postseason for 26.1 points, 7.1 assists and 5.7 rebounds per game. He also shot 39.6 percent from three, a brutal clip for a guard living on hard postseason attempts.
Those numbers did not merely decorate a title run. They changed how defenses had to see him. Basketball Reference’s playoff leaderboards credited Murray with 522 points and 142 assists that postseason, making him both Denver’s closing scorer and its second pressure reader.
Phoenix has more defensive tools than it had a year ago. Dillon Brooks, Ryan Dunn, Royce O’Neale, Mark Williams and Jalen Green give the Suns more size, athleticism and lineup flexibility around Devin Booker. That matters against a Denver team that hunts weak links until the floor cracks.
Still, personnel only opens the door. Habits decide whether Phoenix walks through it.
Pressure without panic
The Suns need three things to travel through this series.
First, they must shrink Murray’s airspace. He thrives when his jumper leaves from a quiet pocket, especially above the break and near the right elbow. Second, Phoenix must kill lazy switches. A late exchange gives Murray the matchup, the clock and the angle. Third, the Suns must make him defend before he hunts.
That last piece matters. Murray becomes more dangerous when he saves his legs for offense. Make him chase Booker. Make him absorb Brooks screens. And make him fight through Green’s pace. Every defensive possession can take something from his fourth-quarter lift.
Phoenix cannot lean on vibes here. Last season’s team profile showed the problem clearly: the Suns scored enough to stay alive, but their defense bled too many clean looks and allowed 116.6 points per game.
Against Denver, that margin vanishes fast. One blown tag becomes a dunk. One late stunt becomes a corner three. One frustrated reach gives Murray the free throw line and a fresh breath.
So the plan has to stay simple enough to survive pressure.
The pressure points that decide the matchup
10. Pick him up before Denver gets comfortable
Murray wants to walk into offense with his head up and his defender already worried about Jokić.
Phoenix should not give him that stroll.
Booker or Dunn can meet him before half court after makes. Not with reckless gambling. With body position. Force one turn. Use the sideline. Make Denver start its first action two beats later than it wants.
That sounds small. It is not.
Murray averaged 40 minutes per game during the 2023 playoffs, and Denver trusted him to carry long stretches without losing touch. Early pressure makes those minutes heavier.
A good pickup will not make the highlight reel. It will look like annoyance. A bump. A turn. A delayed entry pass. That is exactly the work Phoenix needs.
9. Top-lock the first catch
Murray does not need a complicated set to punish a defense.
Sometimes he needs one brush screen, one clean catch and one defender trailing by half a step. From there, the floor opens. Jokić waits. The weak side freezes. Murray’s shoulders square.
Phoenix has to remove that comfort.
Top-locking him on the wing forces Denver into a different read. Make Murray cut backdoor. Make Jokić throw over a body. Trust Williams to protect the rim. Trust O’Neale or Brooks to tag, point and recover.
The risk will feel real. A lazy stunt gives up an uncontested layup every single time. A late low-man rotation turns smart denial into a dunk.
However, playoff defense always asks for nerve. Murray’s postseason identity rests on poise. Phoenix has to make that poise fight for oxygen.
8. Send him away from his cleanest pull-up rhythm
The Suns will not break Murray completely. That cannot be the goal.
They can make him uncomfortable.
Shade him left when the floor allows it. Take away the easy right-hand snake dribble. Make his first move feel like a detour instead of a runway.
Murray can counter every overplay. He can reject the screen. He can split a soft show. And he can use Jokić as a pressure valve. Still, influence matters. One extra dribble lets Dunn slide over. One wider angle lets Williams contest higher. One delayed gather turns a rhythm jumper into a worked-for shot.
During the 2023 West finals, Murray averaged 32.5 points against the Lakers. Denver swept the series because his comfort became a weapon, not a luxury.
Phoenix has to make comfort scarce.
7. Change the coverage but keep the language simple
One coverage becomes a gift if Denver sees it all night.
Drop too deep, and Murray walks into pull-up threes. Blitz too often, and Jokić catches in the middle with shooters spaced around him. Switch late, and Murray gets the big man’s feet exactly where he wants them.
Phoenix needs variety, but not confusion.
Williams should meet Murray higher on selected possessions, then recover with urgency. Booker has to chase over the screen and reconnect. Brooks can take the more physical shifts. Dunn can give Phoenix a longer look when the Suns need to crowd Murray without overhelping.
The call has to come early. The nail defender has to know when to show. The corner defender has to recover before Denver turns help into punishment.
Good defense against the Nuggets rarely looks spotless. It looks connected. That distinction could decide the West Finals.
6. Make Jokić throw over hands, not through gaps
Stopping Murray always starts with bothering Jokić.
Phoenix cannot erase the best passer in basketball. Nobody does. The Suns can change what he sees.
Williams must play with high hands. Brooks has to crowd passing lanes without losing balance. Dunn’s length can turn a simple pocket pass into a floating risk. O’Neale cannot sink so far into the lane that Denver’s corner shooters start stretching their arms for target practice.
Murray and Jokić thrive because their timing feels rehearsed down to the breath. Murray cuts. Jokić pivots. The pass arrives where the defender just stood.
The answer is clutter, not chaos.
Arms at the nail. Bodies near the elbow. A quick stunt. A hard recovery. Denver will still find windows, but Phoenix can make those windows narrower and later.
5. Make Murray guard before he hunts
Phoenix cannot spend the whole night absorbing punches.
The Suns have to make Murray work on defense. Booker should drag him into pick-and-rolls. Green can force him to sprint in transition. Brooks can screen his body. Even a basic off-ball exchange matters when Murray has to fight through contact before Denver asks him to create.
His scoring ceiling explains why those legs matter. NBA records list Murray’s regular-season career high at 50 points, and he reached it against Cleveland in 2021 without attempting a single free throw. That kind of night comes from rhythm, balance and outrageous shotmaking confidence.
Phoenix needs to chip away at all three.
A tired scorer rarely looks tired right away. The signs come small. A closeout lands short. A screen chase widens. A pull-up hits front rim. Those inches matter in the fourth quarter.
4. Stop fouling him back into rhythm
A cold Murray still scares opponents. A calm Murray at the line scares them more.
Phoenix cannot hand him resets. No swipe after the gather. No hip bump on a dead drive. Nor a frustration foul after 20 seconds of strong defense. Those plays turn a win into a whistle.
This matters most after misses. Murray can spend three quarters searching, then turn one clean stretch into a firestorm.
The Lakers learned that in Game 2 of the 2023 West finals. Murray had struggled early, then scored 23 of his 37 points in the fourth quarter as Denver seized control late.
Phoenix cannot defend his last miss. It has to defend his next touch.
That requires maturity. Stay down. Show chest. Contest high. Walk away after the whistle that does not come. Murray wants emotional defenders. The Suns need stubborn ones.
3. Treat Denver’s timeout plays like traps
Denver comes out of timeouts with purpose.
The spacing sharpens. The first screen hides the second action. Murray drifts just far enough to bend the weak side. Jokić waits for one defender to blink.
Phoenix has to treat those possessions like ambushes.
Booker must call out the first screen. Dunn has to see the back cut before Murray sells it. Brooks needs to bump the cutter without opening the corner. Williams must decide early whether to show, stay or switch.
Silence loses here.
Murray’s assist total from the 2023 title run matters because it shows how far his game had stretched. He was not just waiting for Jokić to create an advantage. He was reading the second defender himself, then punishing the wrong rotation.
The Suns need their loudest possessions after the horn, not after the mistake.
2. Live with the hardest twos
This is the bargain Phoenix has to accept.
Murray will make some brutal shots. He always does. If he hits fading 18-footers with Brooks attached to his hip and Williams showing near the foul line, the Suns can survive those possessions.
They cannot survive rhythm threes. They cannot survive layups. Nor can they survive Jokić catching short rolls with the defense split in half.
Shot quality has to guide the plan, not crowd noise. A contested two can still sting. Two in a row can make the bench tense. Three can tempt a coach into panic.
That is where Denver waits.
Overreact, and Murray turns a hard shot into an easy pass. Lean too far, and Jokić turns the advantage into a dunk. Abandon the shell, and the Nuggets get the clean three they wanted all along.
Phoenix has to trust the logic without sounding like a spreadsheet. Make him take the hardest version of the shot. Then do it again.
1. Make the fourth quarter feel crowded
The fourth quarter belongs to players who can breathe slowly while everyone else rushes.
Murray lives there.
He walks into the ball. Jokić angles the screen. The defender braces for contact. Suddenly, Murray rises into a jumper that feels both impossible and practiced.
Phoenix has to crowd that moment before it arrives. Booker pressures the handle. Brooks shades the catch. Dunn sits near the nail. Williams plays high enough to contest without handing Jokić an open lane.
No one needs a superhero possession. Everyone needs to arrive on time.
That is the heart of Phoenix’s Murray problem. His baskets carry emotional weight because they usually arrive when defenses look tired of solving Denver. The hands drop. The communication softens. The screen feels heavier.
The Suns have to make the last six minutes feel like traffic. Not panic. Not chaos. Traffic.
Every touch should come late. Every dribble should come wide. And every jumper should come with a body near his chest and a hand near his release.
The last possession tells the truth
The blueprint will not look glamorous.
Phoenix’s answer to Murray will look like repetition. Booker picking him up early in the second quarter. Brooks taking the bruising screen and staying attached. Dunn tagging Jokić’s roll, then sprinting back before the corner opens. Williams showing high enough to bother the pull-up, then recovering before Denver turns the paint into a runway.
That is hard basketball. It can also become winning basketball.
Denver’s beauty comes from trust. Murray trusts Jokić to find him. Jokić trusts Murray to punish hesitation. Their two-man game turns small mistakes into open wounds.
Phoenix has to interrupt that trust without losing its own.
Slowing Murray does not require a miracle. It requires pressure that starts early, help that moves on time, and restraint after he makes a shot that feels unfair. The Suns do not need to erase him. They need to make every catch later, every dribble wider, and every fourth-quarter jumper feel less like a stage and more like a crowded hallway.
And if Murray still hits the shot?
Phoenix walks back, sets its defense, and makes him earn the next one all over again.
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FAQs
Q. Why do the Suns need to stop Jamal Murray?
A. Murray drives Denver’s late-game offense with Jokić. If Phoenix lets him find rhythm, every possession becomes harder to defend.
Q. How can the Suns slow down Jamal Murray?
A. Phoenix needs early pressure, cleaner switches, and disciplined help. The Suns must make every catch and jumper feel crowded.
Q. Why is Jamal Murray so dangerous in the playoffs?
A. He stays calm under pressure. Murray can miss early, then take over late with tough pull-ups and quick reads.
Q. Should the Suns trap Jamal Murray?
A. Not all night. Wild traps give Jokić easy passing lanes. Phoenix needs pressure without panic.
Q. What role does Devin Booker play in this matchup?
A. Booker must pressure Murray, chase over screens, and make him defend. Every hard possession can drain Murray’s legs.
