Devin Booker, Kevin Durant and Suns survive Nikola Jokic’s 53-point masterpiece, level series at 2-2
Jokic #Jokic
PHOENIX – All of Nikola Jokic’s brilliance couldn’t out-shine the Suns in Game 4 here Sunday night.
Serve: Held. Series: Tied. From here: Best of three beginning Tuesday in Denver for a trip to the Western Conference Finals.
This is where the Nuggets and Suns find themselves after Devin Booker and Kevin Durant dazzled for 36 points apiece and Phoenix outlasted Denver, 129-124, to level the series at two home wins apiece.
The Suns got a big fourth-quarter boost from reserve guard Landry Shamet, too. He knocked down four 3-pointers in the final frame and finished with 19 points, helping the hosts stave off the best scoring outing of Jokic’s playoff career.
The two-time NBA MVP finished with 53 points and 11 assists, but it wasn’t enough for Denver to keep its grip on the series.
The Nuggets trailed by three and had the ball with 45.5 seconds to go after a successful Michael Malone challenge, but Jokic lost control of the ball and then lost a jump ball against DeAndre Ayton. From there, Phoenix salted the game away from the free-throw line.
Malone multiple times between Games 3 and 4 pointed out that Booker had 15 of his 47 points Friday night in transition and had 27 transition points over the first three games in the series against 23 in isolation situations.
“He’s going to make tough shots, but I felt we gave him way too many easy ones (on Friday),” Malone said before Game 4.
Booker barely slowed down at all Sunday. He hit 14 of 17 shots for 36 dazzling points over the first three quarters, punctuated by back-to-back 3s late in the third to give Phoenix a 98-92 lead through 36 minutes. Booker and Durant again provided high-wattage bucket after bucket. Degree of difficulty barely registered.
After combining for 86 points on Friday night, Booker and Durant had 40 by intermission Sunday, 63 through three quarters and 72 total.
Jokic, meanwhile, poured in 24 in the first half alone on 9-of-13 shooting with an array of post moves, put-backs and a three from the top of the key. Then he added 18 more in the third quarter to head into the final frame with 42, already within one of his 2023 playoff-best.
He also picked up an unsportsmanlike technical foul late in the second quarter when he made contact on the baseline with Suns owner Matt Ishbia, who held the ball after it bounded into the first row and resisted when Jokic tried to grab it from him.
The Nuggets needed all of that scoring from the Joker to keep pace in the first half. They built a lead as large as nine points in the first quarter, but simply couldn’t keep Durant and Booker from getting toward the rim and to the free-throw line. Durant took nine free throws in the first half alone and 13 for the game.
Before the game, Malone said he’d implored his group to find a way to play on the road as they did at home and throughout their opening-round playoff series against Minnesota.
“Let’s get back to playing our brand of basketball. I felt for the most part in Round 1 against Minnesota and the two games in Denver before coming here prior to Game 3, I loved how we were playing,” he said. “Our defense was at a high, high level and a lot of the reason the defense was at a high level was because of discipline, aggressiveness, physicality — all the things we were lacking over 48 minutes in Game 3. We’re up 2-1, there’s no panic, there’s not major gameplan adjustments. It’s just getting back to doing what we’re capable of doing.”
Want more Nuggets news? Sign up for the Nuggets Insider to get all our NBA analysis.
Want more Nuggets news? Sign up for the Nuggets Insider to get all our NBA analysis.
©2023 MediaNews Group, Inc. Visit at denverpost.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.