Heading into halftime Friday night at Ball Arena, the Nuggets were feeling good.

Denver only trailed the Suns by four and appeared on the verge of a chance to win Game 3. Then, the third quarter happened. Specifically, the final two minutes of the third quarter, which led to a 116-102 loss.

“I think that game was lost, on our part, the last two minutes of that third quarter,” said Nuggets coach Michael Malone. “I remember talking to our guys in the huddle. It was 23-19 that quarter. We were struggling. We struggled all night to make shots, but our defense was keeping us afloat. I think the overall score at that point was 82-74, so we’re within range. We’re in striking distance.

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“They close that quarter on an 8-2 run, and they started the fourth quarter on a 6-0 run. That 14-2 run was insurmountable. We can’t afford to allow those runs to happen offensively and defensively.”

The Suns closed out the Nuggets in all three games with big performances in the third quarter.

In Game 1, the Nuggets led by one at the half, before the Suns outscored them by 10 in the third, going onto win by 17. In Game 2, the Nuggets trailed by nine at the half, before the Suns outscored them by nine in the third and won by 25. In Game 3, the Nuggets trailed by four before the Suns outscored them by 10 in the third and won by 14.

“Every team makes adjustments or we try to do what we were trying to do better, but it certainly wasn’t anything on my part,” Suns coach Monty Williams said when asked about his team’s third-quarter dominance. “It’s not a schematic thing or some clever speech. I’m just grateful that we’ve had those types of third quarters. … We’ve been able to get stops and consecutive stops in the third quarter, and that really gives us a lot of energy and juice because we can get out in transition.”

The Nuggets headed into the fourth quarter down by double digits in all three games of the series, while the Suns have led by double digits going into the fourth each of their last six playoff games, going back to their first-round series against the Lakers.

Without Jamal Murray, it was always going to be an uphill battle for the Nuggets to reach the Western Conference Finals. And down 3-0, it’s largely impossible now.

If the Nuggets want to salvage any of their season or this series, a good place to start is winning the third quarter to give themselves a chance in the final 12 minutes.

“I think we just got to pull a whole, full-game effort together,” said Nuggets guard Monte Morris. “We played hard tonight. We were right there. We gave it everything we had. They just stepped up and made runs when they had to.”