Devin Booker, Phoenix Suns face elimination after Game 5 loss at Denver Nuggets

DENVER – Denver has pushed Phoenix to the brink of elimination in the Western Conference semifinals after Tuesday’s 118-102 Game 5 win before a sellout crowd of 19.773 at Ball Arena.

The No. 1 seeded Nuggets took a 3-2 series lead with two-time NBA MVP Nikola Jokic posting a triple double of 29 points, 13 rebounds and 12 assists and Bruce Brown coming off the bench to score 25.

The fourth-seeded Suns will face elimination in Thursday’s Game 6 in Phoenix. They are 0-2 in elimination games during this three-year postseason run.

Milwaukee beat them in Game 6 to win the 2021 NBA Finals and Dallas embarrassed them in Phoenix in Game 7 of the West semifinals last year.

If there is a Game 7, it’ll be Mother’s Day in Denver.

Devin Booker led the Suns with 28 points on 8-of-19 shooting in Game 5 after shooting 34-of-43 from the field in Game 3 and 4, which they won in Phoenix to even the series.

Kevin Durant scored 26 on 10-of-24 shooting to go along with 11 rebounds and seven assists.

The Suns were without Chris Paul (groin) for a third straight game.

Denver outscored Phoenix, 39-25, in the third quarter to take a 91-74 lead into the fourth. The Nuggets extended that lead to 24 points on Christian Braun’s transition dunk to give them a 104-80, advantage with 7:48 remaining in the game.

Phoenix trailed by three points at the half after being down as many as 15. Booker and Durant accounted for 32 of Phoenix’s 49 halftime points.

Booker scored 19, going 8-of-8 from the line, while Durant had 13 on 16 shot attempts.

Michael Porter Jr. led the Nuggets with 16 points while Jokic had 10 on 11 shot attempts, seven rebounds and six assists.

The Nuggets had a three-point halftime lead despite shooting 36.7% from the field, but they shot 8-of-12 from 3 with Porter Jr. going 4-of-6 in the first half.

Denver also took seven more shots from the field as a product of grabbing nine offensive rebounds.

Have opinion about current state of the Suns? Reach Suns Insider Duane Rankin at dmrankin@gannett.com or contact him at 480-787-1240. Follow him on Twitter at @DuaneRankin.

Support local journalism. Start your online subscription.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Phoenix Suns facing elimination after Game 5 loss at Denver Nuggets