The Denver Nuggets beat the Phoenix Suns 125-107 in Game 1 of the NBA Western Conference semifinals at Ball Arena in Denver, Colorado, on Saturday, leading 1-0 in the series.

Jamal Murray was the best-performing Nugget in this competition by shooting 13-for-24 from the field to drop 34 points and nine assists, both court highs. He made the Suns pay for focusing on containing Nikola Jokic by making jumpers in any position inside and outside the 3-point line in front of every defender he faced. Having drained six triples, Murray got 10 points in each of the first, third and fourth quarters.

Jokic was dealing with intense defense from the first possession when he had the ball. His biggest concern was not Deandre Ayton in his presence, but other Suns who were always ready to join to help when Jokic turned around to face the rim. For example, Kevin Durant delivered three blocks in Saturday's game and two of them were on Jokic.

Even when Jokic held the ball in the high post, he had to watch out for Chris Paul's hands that could come out of nowhere to steal his ball. As a result, Jokic missed 12 of his 21 field goals and committed three turnovers with five assists, but he still managed to drop a double-double of 24 points and 19 rebounds, including eight on the offensive glass.

Murray was not Jokic's only teammate who stood out to make unexpected offensive contributions. For example, Aaron Gordon went 9-for-13 from the field, including making three 3-pointers to get 23 points; Kentavious Caldwell-Pope added another three triples too; Bruce Brown made six of his eight attempts next to the hoop.

The Nuggets also deserve credit for their defensive performance that protected Jokic well from being targeted by the Suns' mid-range jumper-shooting tribe of Paul, Devin Booker, Durant and Ayton. Murray, Caldwell-Pope and Gordon all worked hard to beat the screen, trying to deflect their marks' shooting. Jokic himself did his best to hedge and recover in guarding screen plays. With joint efforts of the whole team, the Nuggets limited the Suns to 48.4 percent in shooting 2-point jumpers.

By contrast, the Suns were generally disappointing on the defensive end. They chose to test the 3-point shooting abilities of Gordon as part of the cost of containing Jokic. Such damage was expected and acceptable. However, their center Ayton was pretty useless in guarding anyone or anything. He barely raised his hand to help when the Nuggets' perimeter players drove in; he didn't box out to protect rebounds; when he switched to guard perimeter players, Ayton failed to follow most of them.

The Suns were not determined enough to attack Jokic on the offensive end either. Booker's skills, as well as the size of Durant and Ayton enable them to create the space to shoot easily in the middle range by using teammate's screen despite the Nuggets defensive efforts. Nonetheless, only Paul managed to force Jokic to guard him on several possessions in the third quarter and made two jumpers in front of the slow, big man.

All of the above problems the Suns exposed on Saturday night should be part of coach Monty Williams' reviewing session of the loss with the team, in addition to their sloppy dealing with the ball that cost them 16 turnovers. On top of that, Paul, Booker and Durant played over 32, 40 and 36 minutes in a game that entered garbage time after 43 minutes, not to mention that Durant shouldered a big extra defensive duty as well. Considering the three's age and history of injuries, Williams may want to pay more attention to their load.

Game 2 will happen at Ball Arena on May 1.