Murray and Braun Hit 14 Threes. Phoenix Couldn't Shoot Its Way Out of That.

Jamal Murray and Christian Braun combined for seventy points and fourteen made threes. Read that again. Denver beat Phoenix 127–120, and Nikola Jokic didn't even need a monster scoring night to make it happen. Murray had thirty-nine, Braun put up thirty-one, and the Nuggets turned the three-point line into a weapon the Suns couldn't consistently answer. I know Denver is usually discussed through Jokic's genius, and rightfully so, but this was a reminder that his teammates can become the whole problem when the defense overcommits to stopping him.

The game, not just the score

Friday's NBA Cup opener finished Denver Nuggets 127, Phoenix Suns 120. The quarter scores show why the margin can be misleading: Denver Nuggets went 32–39–32–24 across the four periods, while Phoenix Suns posted 37–30–26–27. The decisive differential came in quarter 2, when the winners outscored the opposition 39–30. That shift mattered more than the final burst of scoring because it changed which team could control the pace and which one had to chase.

Phoenix actually won the first quarter and kept the game competitive, but Denver scored thirty-nine in the second and thirty-two in the third. By the fourth, the Nuggets had built enough cushion to absorb a Suns push without losing the lead. The first half featured outrageous shooting from Braun, and Murray carried the offensive pressure after the break. That handoff matters. A hot start from one player can fade; a second player taking over keeps the defense from resetting.

Who actually decided it

The winning team's scoring leaders were Jamal Murray (39 points, 8 rebounds, 5 assists; 10-18 shooting); Christian Braun (31 points, 3 rebounds, 1 assists; 11-16 shooting); Nikola Jokic (18 points, 7 rebounds, 10 assists; 8-13 shooting). On the other side, Miles Bridges (24 points, 10 rebounds, 2 assists; 10-19 shooting) and Dillon Brooks (22 points, 1 rebounds, 2 assists; 9-12 shooting). These aren't interchangeable stat lines. They tell us who had to create shots, who supplied a second scoring option, and where the defense could load up without paying for it. The challenge is not simply to get a star his numbers; it is to make those numbers part of a functioning offense.

Murray went seven-for-nine from three and finished with eight rebounds and five assists alongside his thirty-nine. Braun also hit seven of nine threes, scoring thirty-one on eleven-for-sixteen shooting. Jokic had eighteen points, seven boards and ten assists, which almost looks quiet until you consider how often his passing helps generate the shots everybody else gets credit for. Denver's offense becomes nearly impossible to guard when the perimeter threats are this efficient and the center still reads the entire floor.

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The numbers behind the result

Here's the team-level math I can't ignore. Denver Nuggets shot 42-80 overall and 20-37 from three; Phoenix Suns shot 46-94 and 18-42. The winners recorded 30 assists and 40 rebounds, against 34 assists and 42 boards for the losers. On turnovers, it was 18 to 15. Those categories don't all carry equal weight in every matchup, but together they show whether a team was producing good looks, controlling possessions or relying on difficult individual shot-making.

Phoenix wasn't helpless. Miles Bridges had twenty-four and ten rebounds, Dillon Brooks scored twenty-two before his third-quarter ejection, and Devin Booker finished with twenty on his birthday. The Suns scored more in the paint than Denver and collected more offensive rebounds. But they made eighteen threes to Denver's twenty and got far fewer points at the free-throw line. The Brooks incident also disrupted a game where Phoenix needed composure. When the opponent is shooting like this, losing emotional control only makes the climb steeper.

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My take: the result and the lesson

My take is that Denver's best argument as a contender is its ability to win different kinds of games. Jokic can dominate the box score, or he can organize the offense while Murray and Braun punish the defense. The Suns deserve credit for staying within reach, but there is a difference between keeping the score close and actually controlling the matchup. Phoenix needed cleaner defensive decisions and more poise, especially after the ejection. Denver's spacing made every mistake expensive.

There is also a possession battle underneath the highlights. Denver Nuggets scored 32 in the paint and generated 14 fast-break points; Phoenix Suns finished with 50 in the paint and 11 in transition. Offensive rebounds were 12 to 15. I look at those numbers before I decide whether a team truly controlled the game. They help separate a great shooting night from a repeatable formula, and a bad final score from a deeper structural problem.

What I'm watching next

Denver should enjoy the shooting clinic without mistaking fifty-plus percent from three for a nightly baseline. Phoenix needs to find ways to disrupt perimeter rhythm before it becomes a crisis, and it needs composure when officiating decisions go against it. This Cup opener showed Denver's upside and Phoenix's margin for error in the same forty-eight minutes.

6IX TAKE — What makes this Denver win impressive is not just the fourteen threes from Jamal Murray and Christian Braun. It is how those shots change the geometry of a defense already worried about Nikola Jokic. Murray's thirty-nine points and Braun's thirty-one meant Phoenix could not devote all its attention to the center and expect the other four players to miss. Braun doing that damage early and Murray sustaining it later also mattered: the Suns never got a long stretch in which both perimeter threats cooled off. Still, Denver should not mistake twenty made threes for a guaranteed nightly formula. The more repeatable advantage is Jokic's decision-making, the movement around him, and the willingness of his teammates to shoot when defenders hesitate. Phoenix deserves credit for fighting back, but allowing that kind of perimeter efficiency while trying to keep up offensively is a brutal equation. The Suns need sharper closeouts without opening easy lanes. Denver won this game because it made those choices impossible far too often.