After dropping both games in Phoenix, the Nuggets promised adjustments coming back home for Game 5 with the series tied at two wins apiece.

It turns out it was just one, fairly simple tweak: be more physical and get back to the level of defense from the first two games of the series.

It was most evident in the start of each half.

Denver outscored Phoenix by 11 in the first quarter, but the Suns were able to respond and trim the lead to three by halftime. There would be no such response in the second half when the Nuggets quickly opened a double-digit lead, not looking back on the way to a 118-102 win.

“I thought the start set the tone for them, and then in the third quarter, it was nothing like we’ve put on the floor this year from our standards,” Suns coach Monty Williams said. “I just felt like we played with great pace the last two games (and) they nullified that with physicality. We stood still a lot tonight (and) didn’t move them around enough. We didn’t handle it as well as I believe we can.”

Williams said he could sense early in Tuesday’s game his team didn’t have it — and it had nothing to do with the big minutes his stars have been playing all postseason. During early timeouts, he could tell from his team’s body language that this wasn’t the same group that had just won back-to-back games at home.

“You have to have a level of mental stamina in the playoffs,” Williams said. “You lose a game, it happens. You have to keep your level of poise at a productive level so that no matter what happens on the floor, you can always run your stuff (on offense) or rely on your defense. I thought they had a lot of momentum plays tonight that changed our poise, or their physicality got into us tonight.”

It’s not like the Nuggets switched up their defensive philosophy, either.

The plan was still to make Devin Booker and Kevin Durant uncomfortable and force the Suns’ role players to beat them because, as is common in the playoffs, role players tend to struggle on the road.

That’s exactly what happened in Game 5. No one outside of the Suns’ top three scorers had more than nine points in the game. The Booker-Durant combination had its worst game of the postseason, combining for 54 points. That came after a dominant two games in Phoenix in which they combined for 86 and 72 points, respectively, in Games 3 and 4.

“I thought a lot of what they did was to make everything tough on us,” Williams said. “They ran two or three guys at Kevin and Book tonight and that can be hard. We just didn’t get enough production on the backside of our offense to help Kevin and Book.”

The game was especially tough on Durant, who missed seven of his first eight shots. He got into a rhythm in the Suns’ second-quarter rally, but that didn’t carry over into the second half and he finished 10-for-24. Durant agreed with Williams that the team’s and his own personal offensive struggles started on the defensive end.

“We want to see the ball go in the rim, especially when we’re struggling shooting the ball,” Durant said. “Down 10 (or) 11, you want to get it all back, but I think in that second quarter, we held them to 17 points, did a solid job of getting back into the game with our defense. Coach was right. We lean on defense when we can’t make shots. Tonight we didn’t lean too much into it as much as we’re supposed to.”

Heading home facing a 3-2 series deficit, it’s now the Suns’ turn to adjust. At this point of the series, it isn’t all that complicated.

“We have all the answers to the test now,” Booker said. “All the game plan stuff (goes) out the window, it’s just a dogfight and we have to be ready to go.

“I’ve been in (the playoffs) a couple times now. I love it. Every game has its own character. Every game is its own movie.”