Aaron Gordon Says Nuggets Played 'Soft or Scared' in Game 1 Loss to Suns

Denver Nuggets forward Aaron Gordon said his team played "soft or scared" in a Game 1 loss to the Phoenix Suns on Monday night.

"Soft, that's a good way to put it," Gordon told reporters. "Scared, that's another way to play it. You could choose between them two words, either soft or scared, that's what it felt like we were playing like. And then we was just breaking down. We were breaking down defensively, offensively, we weren't getting into what we needed to get into. We were letting them dictate our offense a little too much. Really just a lot of breakdowns."

Nuggets head coach Michael Malone added the squad had a "soft mentality."

Denver led by one at halftime, but it was outscored by 10 in the third quarter and eight in the fourth en route to a 122-105 road loss.

The Suns shot over 60 percent from inside the three-point line and scored 48 points in the paint to take the early series lead in the Western Conference semifinals.

Nuggets star Nikola Jokic didn't agree with Gordon and Malone about the reason for the loss.

"I don't think so [that] we played soft," he said. "We have to do a better job, of course, handling the runs. I think in one moment they were on a 16-0 run. ... When things aren't going our way, we just need to be more decisive, I think. We need to know what we are doing as a group."

Meanwhile, it was a strong all-around performance from the Suns, who won the rebounding battle (44-41), assisted on 30 of their 46 made field goals and turned the ball over just 10 times.

Phoenix forward Mikal Bridges led all scorers with 23 points, and he was one of four Suns players to score at least 20 in the series opener. Chris Paul (21), Devin Booker (21) and Deandre Ayton (20) were the others.

Jokic led the Nuggets with 22 points and nine rebounds.

Game 2 in Phoenix is set for Wednesday night at 9:30 p.m. ET on TNT.