The lasting image from the Nuggets’ second-round series against the Suns from 2021 won’t be forgotten anytime soon.

Down 3-0 in the series and trailing in the third quarter of Game 4, a clearly frustrated Nikola Jokic caught Phoenix guard Cameron Payne in the face while trying to swipe the ball away, causing a reaction from Devin Booker and the rest of the Suns. The incident ended with Jokic being ejected as his team being swept out of the playoffs.

As the teams prepare to meet again in the exact same round only two years later, is there any part of Jokic that wants revenge against Booker and company?

“Zero,” the reigning two-time MVP said Friday.

Much of that has to do with how the company surrounding both Booker and Jokic has changed over the last two years.

For the Nuggets, only three players from that series — Jokic, Aaron Gordon and Michael Porter Jr. — are still on the team and will have a role this year. For the Suns, it’s just Booker, Chris Paul, Deandre Ayton and Torrey Craig.

Denver has Jamal Murray back and has added some pretty key pieces in Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Bruce Brown.

Oh, and Phoenix just happened to add one of the all-time greats at the trade deadline in Kevin Durant.

“It seems like a lifetime ago,” Nuggets coach Michael Malone said. “We have so many new players on our team that weren’t here for that series. We’re a different team aside from the new players, but also having Jamal Murray healthy. We’re not using a rally cry. This is a new year, new series. This is about us trying to win a championship. If we’re going to do that, we’re going to have to beat a hell of a team in the Phoenix Suns.”

Despite having the No. 1 seed and home-court advantage, the Nuggets enter this series as slight underdogs. But Denver has embodied its star center in the sense that the Nuggets could care less what everyone says heading into this series.

“At this point, we can’t waste any time or energy on feeling slighted,” Malone said. “Any team that adds Kevin Durant is going to be viewed in a much different light. We don’t take that personally. We know who we are. We know what we’re capable of when we’re playing our brand of basketball on both ends of the floor.”

Denver also knows that this series is likely going to come down to defense. Both teams rank in the top three in terms of offensive rating so far in the playoffs and whether it’s Jokic and Murray for the Nuggets or Booker and Durant for the Suns, each team has multiple star players capable of taking over a game on any given night.

“I think we all understand who we’re about to play and the problems that that team presents across the board,” Malone said.

That doesn’t mean this is going to be a series won with a masterful adjustment by either coaching staff. Despite the fact that the Nuggets’ two meetings against the Suns late in the season came without multiple starters, they know what to expect from a team led by Booker and Durant — a lot of isolation.

“It’s just about making each possession tough,” said Nuggets rookie Christian Braun, who will likely be tasked with guarding both Booker and Durant at some point. “They played a lot of minutes in the last series and they’re going to continue to play a lot of minutes this series, so if you can make every shot tough, contest every shot, I think we’re in a good spot.”

Overall, the Nuggets certainly are in the best spot they’ve been in in the playoffs in this era and why their confidence in the days leading up to this pivotal series is impossible not to notice.

“We like our chances,” Nuggets forward Aaron Gordon said. “I feel like we’ve continued to take care of ourselves on and off the floor to give ourselves an opportunity to be healthy. This is a chance to get our lick back against Phoenix.”