Jusuf Nurkić was motivated differently in the duels with Jokić; he was also forced to leave Denver because everything was under Nikola’s control. Now that he’s in a new team, he wants to establish himself and get more recognition following Portland. Denver had a +7 advantage at halftime despite Nurkic’s intense play in the racket. The champions went into the final period leading 87:77. During the match, Jokić also lost his cool when the referees failed to notice Nurkic’s camping in the racket.

At one point, the Suns blew the lead to 90:88, but they needed two more wins to secure the win. Zach Nagy ended up with 17 points, Reggie Jackson had 14, Jamal Murray scored 12, and Caldwell-Popup had 12. Christian Brown and Michael Porter did not participate. In the Phoenix camp, Okogi scored 17 points, while Nurkic finished with 10 points, four rebounds, and two assists despite not playing as well in the second half as Jokic did.