The Phoenix Suns find themselves in a problematic 0-2 hole as their Western Conference playoff series with the Denver Nuggets continues Friday night. Phoenix head coach Monty Williams would like to see his team assert itself as it returns to its home court for the first time in the series, and that means taking the ball to the hoop in an aggressive fashion.

The Suns had just 5 free throws in their Game 2 97-87 loss in Denver Monday night, and that's just not acceptable to Williams or his players.

However, when asked about the free throw disparity in the game — the Nuggets had 21 attempts from the line — Williams was not about to criticize the officials. “That's just trying to get me fined,” Williams said to his questioner.

“I don’t think anybody’s ever seen that. We just have to be more forceful as it relates to getting to the basket and creating the kind of contact that will get us to the [line].”

While the Suns trail in the series, they are a far more comfortable team when they get to play in their home arena and get away from the mile-high atmosphere in Denver.

However, the home court won't be enough for the Suns if they can't control Denver center Nikola Jokic any better than they did in Game 2 when he scored 39 points and added 16 rebounds.

The Suns will depend on Devin Booker and Kevin Durant for a big part of their offensive game, but head coach Monty Williams needs big man Deandre Ayton to limit Jokic more than he has done to this point in the series.